Quote of the day
"We are working hard to restore the public's confidence in the CHP."
California Highway Patrol Commissioner Mike Brown, reacting to the Sacramento District Attorney's release of its report into possible workers' comp fraud at the CHP
Permanent Disability Payments
Those in the know in Sacramento expect fireworks and change in the permanent disability rating schedule. Premium subscribers can find out which politicos and carriers are behind it and what’s likely to happen by clicking here. The rest of you will have to get it in the print edition of Workers’ Comp Executive.
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Top Stories of 2006
Workers’ Comp Executive recalls the biggest stories of 2006. Find out which stories made the top of the heap in the current print edition, or if you’re smart enough to be an online premium subscriber you can click here.
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California Health Care Plan May See Trouble
A U.S. appellate court has ruled in the case of another state’s health care plan, and the ruling bodes ill for California. Premium online subscribers can click here to read the hows and whys of this highly charged idea. All others will have to read it in the print edition of Workers’ Comp Executive.
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Governor’s 24-Hour-Care Plan Needy
In this 2000-word Special Report, premium subscribers to Workers’ Comp Executive can find out the history, issues, hurdles and the bright side of the governor’s 24-hour health care proposal. Premium subscribers can click here.
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X-Mods Increase as Claims Decrease
Try being a broker and explaining to your insured that his X-Mod has increased because his expected loss rates have decreased, and you have the formula for aggravation. This story offers an explanation and links for resources to help explain the phenomenon. Premium subscribers can click here to read it or find it in this week’s print edition of Workers’ Comp Executive.
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I Am The Law by Publius
In characteristic fashion, Publius takes on California’s potential for health care reform. What are the so-called experts telling those creating a new system and what are the chances they’re actually correct? Premium Subscribers can read this insightful lessons-learned-the-hard way by clicking here. Others can see it in the print edition of the Workers’ Comp Executive.
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Sacramento County D.A. Releases ‘Chief’s Disease’ Report
The Sacramento County district attorney releases its report on alleged workers’ compensation fraud cases within the California Highway Patrol. Investigators find that the CHP and State Fund violated state policies when they rewarded top officers who took sick leave or retired under pressure with workers’ comp benefits, but not enough evidence to prove a criminal case.
Go to the full story by Don Thompson, AP via San Jose Mercury News
Go to the full story in KCRA-TV (Sacramento) [With Photo] Go to the full story in the Central Valley Business Times
Oklahoma Mill Worker’s Kin Files Suit in Blast Death
The family of a man killed as the result of a mill explosion in Enid, Okla., files a wrongful death lawsuit against his employer. A Fed-OSHA report blames the January 2005 blast on flour houses that were not properly bonded to a vacuum conveyor system. By AP via KSWO-TV (Lawton, Okla. – Wichita Falls, Texas)
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Idaho Fund Would Fully Cover Injured Police, Using Court Costs
In Idaho, lawmakers consider a fund to pay injured police 100 percent of their salaries while they recover or until they go on permanent disability. The push for the proposal, which would increase the court costs paid by felony and misdemeanor convicts, occurs just one month after the traffic-stop shooting of a state trooper who ended up paralyzed. By Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer, Idaho Press-Tribune
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Hoosier Town Extends ‘Line of Duty’ Benefits
Mooresville, Ind., is extending disability coverage for police and firefighters to cover gaps in disability coverage, a decision the town council president calls the most cost-effective option, where even a worker’s compensation policy would leave gaps for public safety workers. By Bridgett Morales-Kilgore, Mooresville- Decatur Times (Mooresville, Ind.)
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