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Letter to Lawmakers Mary Bailey March 22, 2005

Honorable Lawmakers,

We ask you to take up workers compensation from the injured workers perspective during this legislative session. We have real solutions to real problems in the comp system.

We would like to contribute to your efforts to make the comp system self executing as it is supposed to be. We believe that our ideas will not only make the comp system self executing but that they will also reduce costs for employers, reduce unnecessary litigation, reduce the amount of doctor shopping, reduce the number of PTD injuries, and that they are fair and equitable for all involved.

I would like to tell you that in the past two years it is my opinion that the service from the EAO office has been a tremendous help to injured workers, particularly in securing medical benefits. It has been a breath of fresh air to many injured workers. I feel, in many cases, the EAO office has reduced the number of petitions for benefits filed during this time by securing medical and sometimes other benefits for injured workers. The end result in these cases usually leads to the injured worker getting back to work faster and most likely fewer people becoming PTD due to lack of medical care.

Still, we run across some stubborn companies that refuse to cooperate with the EAO Office and force the injured worker into litigation. I find that the toughest problems VOICES runs across is usually with self insured companies. I suspect you will find that there is a lot more litigation going on in cases where employees are injured and the employer has self insurance.

I am curious if you have any statistics on the number of litigated cases existing between self insured entities and traditional insurance employers. If not I think that would be an interesting statistic to get a hold of.

The law passed in 2003 helped injured workers in respect to the additional authority given to the EAO office. However, for many of those injured who run up against an insurer that refuses to comply with the law, there are severe consequences with respect to the limitation that the law puts on attorney fees for medical benefits and/or small claims.

There are many injured workers that have been unable to obtain legal counsel in these cases. The end result is these people have no where left to go to get the benefits they are entitled to under the law. Because of this, I believe the law passed on this issue in 2003 violates the injured worker's constitutional right to counsel.

I ask you on behalf of injured workers to please reconsider the 2003 law on this issue. The law devastates those who are injured and has a tremendous effect on the life of the injured workers and their families.

It is also my opinion that there are several insurance companies out there that lack respect for the Department of Financial Services and that there is a need to give the DFS more authority under the law to bring the employer/carrier into compliance with the law.

The DFS also needs the authority to act more expeditiously.

With this said, please know that these are my personal observations based on my experience with injured workers and what they tell me. I am no authority on the EAO Office but I believe my observations are reasonable and fairly accurate.

Mary Bailey
President, VOICES Inc.
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