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(c) 2010-2024 Jon L Gelman, All Rights Reserved.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Workers' Compensation is Riding on the Road to Wellville with Obama Care

As Obama Care [The Affordable Care Act] launches, workers' compensation programs will start to undergo subtle changes   The innovation of wellness programs and new treatment protocols will eventually cause major shifts to the delivery of workplace medicine.

Workers' compensation's future, ironically, has actually been viewed primarily in a rearview mirror. The shift to break with old habits has been a major struggle. The inertia will give way to a creative future based on new technologies and socio-economic challenges.

In a recent article by The Honorable David B. Torrey, Judge of Workers' Compensation ["The Affordable Care Act and Effects on the Workers' Compensation System, (7 PAWCSNL 114 at 30, March 2013)], the significance of  Obama Care is reported.  Judge Torrey recognizes that even those with major pecuniary interests in the compensation business have been unable to halt the momentum of change.

The need to prevent fraud through cost shifting, and the urgent necessity to eliminate the old habits of obesity, smoking and lack of preventive care (wellness programs), have sparked changes in workplace medicine. Those factors will have significant impact on how workplace medicare is delivered, and financed, in the years ahead.

The law has been passed and upheld. Now the Obama Administration has begun it's implementation.

Obama Care offers new opportunities to improve workplace medicine. With the embrace of Libby Care (universal care for asbestos exposures in Libby, MT), the need to rein in medical and pharmaceutical costs, the effort to stop cost-shifting and massive recovery costs, and the goal to make American's healthier, Obama Care will lead the way and workplace medicine will follow. 

Judge Torrey reveals that the course maybe uncertain for workers' compensation.  Even though there maybe many questions that require answers, the direction is a positive one. Obama Care is a big deal.

We are on road to workplace wellness. The down the road will make, workers, Industry and America healthier. 

Read more about Obama Care

Feb 21, 2011
Since workers do not have group health insurance coverage, they are denied access to the medical care they need when their injury claims are denied by the worker's compensation insurer. And their claims are routinely ...
Jan 19, 2013
President's Obama's comprehensive health care reform law, intended to increase health care coverage for millions of Americans, faced extreme scrutiny by the U.S. Supreme Court ... http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com ...
Nov 09, 2012
On Tuesday, the American people expressed its support for a unified medical care program that will embrace all aspects of life, including industrial accidents and diseases. ... President Barack Obama, November 7, 2012 ...
Nov 19, 2012
The Obama administration and the US Congress must balance the pain between providers of medical care and beneficiaries. The balance is integrated into the Workers' Compensation system through the delivery of medical ...

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