Honorable Lawmakers,

In reference to the following article from Workcompcentral.com:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Banking and Insurance Committee unanimously agreed Tuesday to remove first responders from key provisions of SB 50A, the 2003 Florida workers' compensation reform credited with cutting rates by more than 38%.

The panel approved Senate Bill 746, which waives the cap on claimants' attorneys' fees, strengthens presumptions that illness from toxic substances and smallpox vaccinations are job related and gives first responders the right to compensation for mental illness without a related physical injury.

VOICES Inc. would like to thank the Senate for passing this bill SB 746 but would like to point out to both the House and the Senate that all injured workers need the same consideration.

I hope you folks never become injured workers because if you do you will become the victim of your own lack of knowledge about comp and you will find the laws you have passed in the past will definitely come back to haunt you.

In the mean time you are making injured workers suffer needlessly. You are once again listening to insurance lobbyists who are not under oath and are telling you half truths.

Once again you are ignoring the opportunity to talk with injured workers to see and hear what they are going through. You are also ignoring solutions to the problems in comp that have been presented to you by VOICES Inc.

How you can leave comp as it is with good conscience defies all logic?

We have told you time and time again that the insurance carrier is the biggest cost driver to the system. We have shown you instance after instance where they have wasted so much money on needless things.

We have told you in the past that it is unfair to take our attorneys away from us.

Why you might ask?

Our attorneys under the old law were only paid when they won a case or if we settled. If we settled a case most of the time we paid the attorney fees out of our settlement.
If we won a case it means we went before a judge and he determined that we deserved the benefits we are guaranteed under the law. This meant that the carrier was wrong for cutting off our benefits and or denying treatment. This also meant the only reason our attorneys got paid was because the carriers were wrong to begin with. So who is the cost driver here and who caused the litigation? The carrier did.

So some of you brilliant people came up with the idea that you could cut costs in the comp system by limiting claimants attorney fees. All that has done is make it impossible for claimants to be properly represented by legal counsel and it has allowed to carrier to starve injured workers out. So how much do you think the carriers are paying for their attorneys these days? How is this constitutional to limit our attorneys and not theirs? Once again you have overlooked the real problem. The real problem is the carrier and not the attorneys. They are the ones breaking the law and wrongfully denying benefits.

We are already injured. We are not making near what we are used to making. We have been fired from our jobs most of the time for getting injured at work. We no longer have a health insurance policy for ourselves or our family. We are losing everything we own. How do you think we can pay for an attorney? We can't and they cannot afford to take on our cases after your limitation you put on their fees.

You folks think we are making a killing off of comp. You think they are paying out so much. Guess what. They are paying out at a discounted rate and in many cases they are getting off easy due to the cap you put on indemnity benefits. Anyone making a decent wage loses out big time.
For instance at the time of my injury I was making a thousand dollars a week. Through comp my pay was capped at three hundred and thirty dollars a week. So in my case and many others the carrier is getting a very big break in what they are paying out. Still they cry foul. Still they want you to take more benefits away from us.

For once look at the real problem. Look at the waste on the carriers part. Restore our benefits and hold the carrier accountable for their waste and poor business practices.

You have given the EAO office more power and they have gotten a lot of people to the doctor early on in their injury. That has been a tremendous help to injured workers and I am sure it has cut down the number of petitions for benefits in the system. We appreciate you stepping in and sending us to the EAO office. Remember this though. The EAO office can only do so much and when we come to you it seems that you think all our issues will be resolved in the EAO office. They can only do so much though. They are doing all they can under the law. Now the ball is back in your court. Sending us to the EAO office is not enough. You need to make the law fair.

We need attorneys. We need SB 50 A to be repealed. We need the workers compensation system to work as it was intended to. The only way that will happen is if you restore our benefits and create laws to penalize the carrier for bad faith practices.

You need to talk with injured workers.

The comp system is difficult to understand until you are in it. Then it becomes unbelievable.

Please do the right thing. Repeal SB 50 A and restore our benefits and our dignity. The EAO office cannot fix things you have not made provisions for in the law.

We need your help and we need it today. You keep telling us you will get to comp. Every year you say you don't want to take it up. We are tired of waiting on you to do the right thing. We need you to forget politics and look at the real issues from our eyes.

Sincerely, Mary Bailey
President, VOICES Inc.