One Payer, Fifty Systems

A Democratic Congress revives Medicare for All, yet the bill still holds workers' compensation liable for treatment.

Right Result, Wrong Clock

An injured worker can win the statute-of-limitations argument and still lose the case. That is the lesson of Tighe v. Tighe Landscape Design, Inc., No. A-0915-24, 2026 WL 3298223 (App. Div. Nov. 2, 2026) (unpublished). The Appellate Division held that the judge of compensation measured a reopener against the wrong limitations clock, then affirmed the dismissal anyway because the petitioner never proved his disability had worsened.

Premiums Fall, Benefits Rise

New Jersey employers will pay 1.9% less for workers' compensation coverage in 2027, while injured workers receive modest benefit gains and a frozen floor.

The Statehouse Wave Arrives

A Democratic landslide reshapes the outlook for workers' compensation, workers' rights, and workplace safety.

Residency Is Not Enough

A New Jersey surgeon, a New Jersey patient, a New Jersey operating room, and still no New Jersey jurisdiction.

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.