Injured Workers Will Suffer Again!

Once again it is the injured worker in New York who will suffer due to the failings of the Insurance Industy in New York and the New York State Workers Compensation Board. See news article Self-Insureds

The New York Workers' Compensation Law (WCL) allows for groups of similarly situated employers to enter into self-insured trusts to fund their workers' compensation liability. In the past, there have been self-insured trusts for "Beer Wholesalers" and "Health Care Industry Workers". The purpose of such trusts was to allow like employers to pool their risk and receive reduced premiums, while allow the administrators of such trusts to specifically tailor its claims practices to those unique industries - and thereby properly and sensibly set premiums. This has never really happened.

Many of these self-insured trusts remain or were woefully underfunded, and this has led to the NYS WCB seeking to shut those trusts down. In fact, the Chairman of the WCB, Zachary Weiss had proposed funding reform to assure liqudity of these trusts and has recently requested authorization for a $60 million bond issue to help defray the costs of the suspensions an to assure continued payment to injured workers covered under these defunct trusts!

While I appauled the Chairman for seeking to reassure the system, what is wrong here? Why should injured workers suffer due to the inefficiencies and negligence of the past administrations and the NYS WCB! Why should taxpayers be invovled in bond issues to bail out big business that has made money hand over fist in the workers' compensation arena.

Unfortuantely, my experience has shown me that even with the protections being sought, it is the injured worker who will suffer. Who will pay the checks? What will the delay be? Who will handle these claims? If our experience with insurance carriers in liquidation is any example, these answers are simple...the injured worker will be forced to suffer during the delays and administrative nightmares piled on top of an already over-beauracratic system!