Copyright

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

Monday, July 11, 2011

The Debt Ceiling and Workers Compensation

President Barack Obama talks with members of his staff in the Oval Office following a meeting with the Congressional Leadership, July 7, 2011. Pictured with the President, from left, are: Chief of Staff Bill Daley; Rob Nabors, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs; Bruce Reed, Chief of Staff to the Vice President; National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling; Jason Furman, Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council; Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew; Senior Advisor David Plouffe; and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)


As The Debt Ceiling Crisis continues to fester in a sluggish economy, the attack on public health programs like Medicare and Workers Compensation remain targets of cuts. Basically the medical delivery system just can't be supported and is imploding bringing down the entire house of cards.

Workers' Compensation, a patchwork of state programs, has a target on its back. The system is a massive Ponzi Scheme that now lacks a base of economic support and can no longer provide delivery of benefits in either the arena of medical or indemnity. It is the promise to Labor that just can't be kept.

Angry critics from cost to coast have targeted the system with a plethora of lame excuses why the system is ailing and why it is too costly to maintain as presently structured. While Industry continues somewhat to the downfall of workers' compensation, it cannot be blamed entirely. The compensation system was build on the foundation of the Industrial Revolution and a massive insurance scheme of the early 1900s that no longer realistically exists. Medical science has been transformed from the ancient French medical practice of the use of leaches, no anesthesia and zero sterilization, to an era of modern medicine with modern modalities, complex diagnostic and treatment and research protocols.  

As the debate unfolds in Washington DC on the debt ceiling, the focus with become more directed upon public entitlement programs and benefits that need to be modernized and revamped to meet the current changes to the economy and health of the nation. One of those targets will ultimately be workers' compensation and this time the politicians should look at it not in the light of negativity but rather for all the positive benefits workers compensation brings the nation.