Set-Asides Without Safe Harbor

In May 2013, this blog reported that a New Jersey court had done what the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) declined to do. In Duhamell v. Renal Care Group East, Inc., 431 N.J. Super. 93 (Law Div. 2012), the Superior Court in Atlantic County approved two self-administered Medicare set-asides after CMS refused to review them, citing limited resources. Thirteen years later, CMS still will not grant a safe harbor outside its own review process, but it now sees nearly every set-aside that gets created. For injured workers in New Jersey, that shift changes the calculus of every lump-sum settlement.

El Niño Sends the Bill

How a record-strength El Niño will test the workers' compensation market, and the claims that will follow.

Credibility Wins, Silence Forfeits

Lawhon v. County of Monmouth shows why a judge’s credibility findings stick and why unraised issues vanish on appeal.

Coverage Gaps Become Compensation Claims

Medicaid cuts, lapsed subsidies and Medicare Advantage exits will push more medical costs into workers' compensation.

The Next Plague Clocks In

A Siberian lab technician’s death tests whether U.S. workers’ compensation is ready for the next outbreak.

Not Fired by a Robot

NJ AFL-CIO Puts Its Weight Behind S4075, the FAIR Act, and Injured Workers Should Pay Attention

A Dozen Years, No Hike

New Jersey’s proposed 2027 rate filing would extend the state’s run of workers’ compensation rate reductions to a twelfth straight year, even as the annual cut continues to shrink.