Quote of the day
"The insurance companies are getting over on us. This has been accepted because no one looked into it."
Bunny Greenhouse, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, contending that insurance companies have charged exorbitant premiums for coverage of contractors in Iraq
Visalia on the Hook for Nearly $1 Million in Motorcycle Cop Case
A Central Valley judge rules that the attorney for a former veteran Visalia police officer can collect nearly $390,000 in attorneys’ fees. The city also must pay $568,680 in damages a jury awarded the officer in his November trial, in which the jury did not hear how the officer received a disability rating that can award permanent disability benefits for reduced job competitiveness. By Tim Bragg, Fresno Bee
Go to the Full Story…
Taxpayers Foot Insurance Bill for Iraq Contractors
Given the inherent dangers, insuring contractors in Iraq would seem to be an underwriter’s nightmare. But U.S. taxpayers pay the premiums to insurance companies for such contractors, and when they are killed or injured, the benefits too. By Joseph Neff, Raleigh News & Observer via San Luis Obispo Tribune
Go to the Full Story…
Rhody Gov’s Ally Tapped for Top Beacon Post
Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., Rhode Island’s dominant workers’ compensation insurer, hires an investment banker with close ties to Gov. Donald Carcieri as its new chief executive officer. A grand jury last fall indicted the company’s former vice president of underwriting in an apparent expanding criminal investigation into Beacon. By Lynn Arditi, Providence Journal [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
Blogworld: Spitzer Speaks on Worker’s Comp
Newly-elected New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer gives his first State of the State address to the state assembly and puts workers’ compensation reform at the top of his to-do list. Will lawmakers follow his lead? By Cyrus Dugger, Tort Deform
Go to the Full Story…
Blogworld: Confessions of a Health Industry Insider
Any comprehensive health care reform program that fails to properly integrate workers’ compensation will encounter serious problems. It also runs the risk of creating financial and personal hardship for injured workers. By RJ Eskow, Huffington Post
Go to the Full Story…
Delaware Lawmaker Revs Engines of Comp Reform
“I would say if we’re talking about benefiting our automakers that the No. 1 priority should be to pass the workmen’s compensation bill,” says Delaware State Sen. Nancy Cook. Delaware’s workers’ compensation rates are among the nation’s highest, partly because the program has not been overhauled since the early 1900’s. By J.L. Miller, News Journal (Wilmington, Del.) [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
Ohio BWC Administrator Steps Down
William E. Mabe, who took over the scandal-plagued Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation in November 2005 with the stated goals of stabilizing finances and restoring trust and transparency in the troubled agency, resigns after being told he would not be kept on in Ohio Gov.-elect Ted Strickland’s administration. By Mark Niqutte, Columbus Dispatch [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
New Ohio AG Must Decide on Appeal of Workers’ Comp Payments
In taking office as the new Ohio Attorney General later this month, Democrat Marc Dann must decide whether to appeal a court ruling declaring that the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation potentially underpaid hundreds of employees hurt on jobs they got through welfare. By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, AP via Cleveland Plain Dealer
Go to the Full Story…