Honorable Lawmakers,

With the 2007 legislative session already in process we, the injured workers of this state, ask for your assistance in reforming workers compensation law and specifically hope that you will repeal the SB 50 A 2003 law that has been so detrimental to injured workers and our families.

Just as in this session, in 2003 there were many new lawmakers elected to office. It is my impression that those new lawmakers were taken advantage of by the leadership on bills that were voted on without the lawmaker being able to read the bill in advance or even able to see a side by side comparison because the law was drafted too late and thus the bill went out of committee and to the floor. When it hit the floor none of the legislature, except those who drafted the bill, were aware of exactly what the bill said. Thus, most of the new members to the legislature had to take the word of the leadership as to what the bill would do to injured workers.

The bill was touted to give injured workers many new benefits. Unfortunately, there were no new benefits, no improvements, with the exception of the death benefit going from $50,000 to $100,000. Everything else was a complete takeaway.

You may ask what was taken away?

First our claimant attorney fees were limited to a one time $1500.00 small claims fee. This makes it next to impossible for claimants to find an attorney after 2003. The defense attorney fees were not limited. How anyone can consider this constitutional I will never know. The bill gave more power to the people who have the most money and made it easier for the carrier to starve people out.

I would also like to remind you that in pre 2003 law attorneys were only awarded fees and cost if they won their case in court or if they settled the case. If they lost the case they were not paid but defense attorneys were. If they won that meant the carriers were wrong in denying benefits in the first place. So now you have taken away the only deterrent to penalize the employer/carrier for terminating or refusing benefits when they were rightfully due. Now the employer/carriers are having a field day denying benefits because in many cases the injured worker cannot get an attorney. With this said, VOICES Inc. and our injured workers membership are asking you to repeal SB 50 A and return many of the benefits, retroactive, which were wrongfully taken from us by the legislature.

Second, the bill took away the carriers responsibility to pay for the claimants IME. Claimants usually only use an IME when the carriers doctor shop until they find an opposing opinion from the primary doctor they selected for the injured worker. A carrier-funded IME by an independent physician who has no ties to the workers compensation system is crucial to counterbalance the carrier's actions. It is common for carriers to require an IME from their own favored doctors when a worker's primary doctor -selected form the worker by the carrier -doesn't give the diagnosis desired. Carriers frequently doctor-shop until they find a physician will give a medical judgment that will save the carrier money.

So the injured worker is already out of work, has lost his/her job in many cases and has no income to speak of to pay for an IME. They have also lost their health insurance when they were terminated from their job. Not just for the injured worker but often for the whole family.

Third, the bill set a maximum of a 1% impairment rating for psychiatric or psychological injury regardless of the degree of injury. Impairment ratings determine the degree of disability and by extension, the degree of compensation. An arbitrary limit of 1% is a virtual guarantee that no mental injury, no matter how extreme, will ever have to be compensated for by the carrier. Also the law requires, and this was pre 2003, that an employee must have a physical injury to qualify for treatment of a psychological or psychiatric injury. Unfortunately, many people have psychological or psychiatric injuries even when there is no physical injury. Some things that happen at work can be very traumatic without a physical injury. Things like bank robberies or instances where a gunman comes in shooting up a workplace. Some may be dead, with others injured, but those who observed the horror have no recourse to file a claim. How are people supposed to be able to deal with these things? Veterans who return from combat with no physical harm often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and are offered support and treatment through the VA. Non-combatant workers who have suffered psychological but not physical injury need support and treatment as well

Fourth, the bill reduced the number of weeks for Temporary Total Disability benefits from 260 weeks to 104 weeks. Many people are cut off at that point even though they are not through with their medical and are unable to return to work. The result of this action leaves many workers not yet at maximum medical improvement status, unable to return to work, unable to earn a living and disallows further support in their care. This is unjust, but highly advantageous to the carrier bottom line.

There should be no time limitations on benefits. This particular reduction in benefits has cost many injured workers their homes as well as everything they own. Many are homeless as a result of this. Now the state can provide care rather than the carriers. Is making the state provide for injured workers the intent of workers compensation?

In addition to the bill's problems, many lawmakers who voted for SB 50A were
very annoyed by the duplicitous process that got it passed. These are a few of the key issues that have seriously affected the injured worker. It is my belief that this bill only passed because it was taken from a committee that would not pass the bill and put in another committee behind closed doors and without a scheduled meeting and very few legislators even knowing of this meeting.

Once the last minute bill was passed it was sent to the floor, which was full of new lawmakers. There was no final copy of the bill or amendments presented to those on the floor who had to vote on it. There was no side by side comparison for lawmakers to see what was being taken away from injured workers. Thus the new lawmakers voted on the bill believing what the leadership told them. They were told there were many improvements in the bill for injured workers. After the bill was passed VOICES wrote lawmakers to let them know there were no improvements except in the death benefit. Many lawmakers felt they had been betrayed by the leadership.

The leadership also promised to bring up our concerns in a glitch bill the following session. The only glitches that got brought up were to iron ouremployer/carrier issues. Not one injured worker glitch was addressed.

We only bring this up because we hope you will read bills before voting on them and know the consequences of the bills before you cast your vote. Please do not take someone's word on what is in the bill and what it does.

Please do not vote on any bills that are not in your possession in time for you to go over it. As the session gets closer to closing you will be bombarded with bills that are considered unfinished business. All we ask is that you know what you are voting for and if you are not supplied the bill in time for your review we ask you to refuse to cast your vote on that bill.

VOICES has a bill with comprehensive reforms. You will be told that the bill will cost the insurance industry lots of money. However if the law is enforced there will be little need for litigation. As it has always been, if the employer/carrier would provide excellent and immediate medical care many more people would get back to work quicker and the number of PTD, (Permanent Total Disability) injuries will go down. This law can self execute as was its original intent if the insurance companies are held accountable. In some cases now they are through the EAO Office. However there are many aspects of comp that you have not defined well enough in the law and you have given the DFS, DWC, EAO Office no way to enforce a lot of the law.

You can find the 2006 VOICES Bill at
http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/view_page.pl?Tab=session&Submenu=1&FT=D&File=sb2416.html&Directory=session/2005/Senate/bills/billtext/html/

Please consider supporting our bill in 2008. We have not found a sponsor for our bill this session due to some procedural miscommunication. However, the bill should be considered. All we ask is that you review it.

VOICES will be offering amendments as soon as we can find a vehicle to attach them to.

Though this amendment is not in its final form it will read something like this:

Repeal all workers compensation law by July 2008.

Repeal workers compensation insurance and convert to 24/7 or regular health
insurance, which must meet minimum standards arrived at by the Florida Legislature after an interim study to be done in the off session. In this policy injuries at work will be covered. In addition to regular coverage this policy must include psychiatric, podiatry, chiropractic, ophthalmic, physical therapy and accidental dental coverage as well as hospitalization and drug coverage and other treatments and therapies that the treating physician deems appropriate. All stakeholders testimony, including that of injured workers, must get equal time and weight by the committee the study is assigned to. All stakeholders should have equal access to the committee. All testimony must be given under oath.

Require all employers to provide health insurance to employees and their families in lieu of workers compensation insurance. Employers are required to pay a minimum of 80% of the insurance premium. Require all employers to provide short and long term disability policies in which they will pay a minimum of 80% of the premium. All employees will be required to accept the insurance and pay their portion of the premium which will be automatically deducted from their pay check.

This policy will fall under the regulation and guidelines provided for by the state for regular health insurance.