The California Applicants’ Attorneys Association (CAAA), whose members represent Californians injured on the job, today noted that Los Angeles television station KNBC-TV has reported on another Californian hurt on the job who is being denied needed home health care support by a workers’ compensation insurer. “Insurance carriers deny three and a half million treatment recommendations a year, many of them for home health care support for patients who don’t want to be in an institution, but at home,” said CAAA President Bernardo de la Torre. “Insurers use the system of delay and denial to avoid paying for legitimate, necessary medical treatment and support for patients. As there are no meaningful penalties for insurer misconduct, they continue to mistreat people like Nicolas Mercado. This must change.”
From KNBC-TV report:
“A grandfather in a wheelchair says he's trapped in a care facility far from home because the state won't obey a court order to pay for home modifications. San Bernardino resident Nicolas Mercado, a 54-year-old grandfather, was rendered a quadriplegic in 2011, when the big rig he was driving for work crashed. He's been living in a care facility in Garden Grove ever since, because his home lacks the modifications to fit his wheelchair….”
