Sandra Cooper remembers the exact date her life started to turn upside down: Sept. 25, 2003. She'd gotten home from her job as an art teacher at Garden Spot High School around 4 p.m. that day. Her husband, Gene, who was on shift work at Armstrong World Industries floor plant, arrived home a short time later. She heard him coming. "I could hear the coughing even before he came up the sidewalk," Sandra Cooper said. "I've never heard anybody cough like that."  His eyes were watering, he had a blinding headache and he was screaming in between hacks. There'd been a spill at work, he told his wife. Chemicals. He had to help clean it up. |
Monday, October 14, 2013
Lawsuit claims chemical spill at Armstrong caused worker's neurological disorder
Today's post is sahred from inpews.com
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Social Security raise to be among lowest in years
Social Security payments are tightly kinked to workers' compensation disability payments. When there are increases in benefits, some "reverse offset" states are liberal in passing along the adjustments to injured workers'. The State of New Jersey does NOT pass along the benefit increase and the workers' compensation insurance company does NOT increase the disability award payment to the injured workers. Today's post is shared from the dallasnews.org.
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For the second straight year, millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees can expect historically small increases in their benefits come January.
Preliminary figures suggest a benefit increase of roughly 1.5 percent, which would be among the smallest since automatic increases were adopted in 1975, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Next year's raise will be small because consumer prices, as measured by the government, haven't gone up much in the past year. The exact size of the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, won't be known until the Labor Department releases the inflation report for September. That was supposed to happen Wednesday, but the report was delayed indefinitely because of the partial government shutdown. The COLA is usually announced in October to give Social Security and other benefit programs time to adjust January payments. The Social Security Administration has given no indication that raises would be delayed because of the shutdown, but advocates for... |
The Soaring Cost of a Simple Breath
Cost in the US for pharmaceutical medications are a stressor for all including workers' compensation carriers. The blame is targeted to injured workers for causing the problem. In actuality it appears that big pharma maybe the problem. Perhaps Federal legislation should allow cheaper rates for workers' compensation programs. Today's post is shared from nytimes.com.
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The kitchen counter in the home of the Hayes family is scattered with the inhalers, sprays and bottles of pills that have allowed Hannah, 13, and her sister, Abby, 10, to excel at dance and gymnastics despite a horrific pollen season that has set off asthma attacks, leaving the girls struggling to breathe.
Asthma — the most common chronic disease that affects Americans of all ages, about 40 million people — can usually be well controlled with drugs. But being able to afford prescription medications in the United States often requires top-notch insurance or plenty of disposable income, and time to hunt for deals and bargains. The arsenal of medicines in the Hayeses’ kitchen helps explain why. Pulmicort, a steroid inhaler, generally retails for over $175 in the United States, while pharmacists in Britain buy the identical product for about $20 and dispense it free of charge to asthma patients. Albuterol, one of the oldest asthma medicines, typically costs $50 to $100 per inhaler in the United States, but it was less than $15 a decade ago, before it was repatented. “The one that... |
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Where's the New Jersey Conference?
| There's going to be lots of press surrounding the latest CompScope Benchmarks Study released by the Workers' Compensation Research Institute, as there always is, and should be. After all, the WCRI is one of the top research groups in our industry and the leadership and staff there work hard to provide as complete and unbiased data as possible. What is unique about the latest study of 16 states is one common theme - controlling costs has more to do with instituting price schedules for medical services than any other single factor. The premier example is Illinois, which, after reducing medical fees by 30% across the board on Sept. 1, 2011, saw all medical payments for claims with seven days of lost time declined by 5% for injuries arising in 2011 and evaluated as of 2012. Prices paid for non-hospital services dropped by 24% between 2010 and 2012. And Texas' claim costs, which ranked the highest in the nation prior to a set of reforms passed in 2005, are now typical of the states studied, according to WCRI , with medical costs per claim 17% lower than the 16-state median for 2009 claims evaluated in 2012. The Institute expects costs to decline further in Texas with the prescription drug formulary that became effective 9/1/2011. The state's claim cost growth rate is also slowing. Claims costs in Texas grew by between 3% and 6% per year between 2006 and 2011. Costs per claim for the 2010/2012 study period were $5,829 – slightly higher than the $5,354 median. The flip side is... |
Scientific improprieties in the asbestos industry funded research of McGill professor
Asbestos research, and its validity, is a much debated quesstion. Today's post is shared from Kathleen Ruff, RightOnCanada.ca
Here is a powerful, detailed and damning scientific analysis of improprieties in the research of Prof. J.C. McDonald on Quebec asbestos miners – The Past is Prologue, Universities in Service to Corporations: The McGill-QAMA Asbestos Example. This analysis was presented by Prof. David Egilman at the McGill asbestos conference on October 1, 2013. It is clearly presented and well worth reading. At the conference, no response was provided to the damning information that Prof. Egilman put forward. Prof. McDonald’s research was financed with one million dollars by the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association (QAMA). Prof. McDonald used his research to promote the use of chrysotile asbestos around the world. His research continues today to be used by the global asbestos industry to promote the sale and use of chrysotile asbestos. It was used, for example, by the global asbestos lobby at the May 2013 Rotterdam Convention conference to help defeat the listing of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance. McGill continues to state that Prof. McDonald’s research was conducted “according to the rigorous scientific standards for which McGill is known”. McGill has not however addressed the detailed and damning evidence that Prof. Egilman has put forward. Prof. Egilman and other scientists have called on McGill to carry out an... |
The startling rise of disability in America
In the past three decades, the number of Americans who are on disability has skyrocketed. The rise has come even as medical advances have allowed many more people to remain on the job, and new laws have banned workplace discrimination against the disabled. Every month, 14 million people now get a disability check from the government.  The federal government spends more money each year on cash payments for disabled former workers than it spends on food stamps and welfare combined. Yet people relying on disability payments are often overlooked in discussions of the social safety net. The vast majority of people on federal disability do not work. Yet because they are not technically part of the labor force, they are not counted among the unemployed. In other words, people on disability don't show up in any of the places we usually look to see how the economy is doing. But the story of these programs -- who goes on them, and why, and what happens after that -- is, to a large extent, the story of the U.S. economy. It's the story not only of an aging workforce, but also of a hidden, increasingly expensive safety net. For the past six months, I've been reporting on the growth of federal disability programs. I've been trying to understand what disability means for American workers, and, more broadly, what it means for poor people in America nearly 20 years... |
Friday, October 11, 2013
Think asbestos is banned in the US?
Asbestos warning
If there’s one reason we know our federal law governing chemicals doesn’t work, it’s asbestos. Despite popular belief, asbestos, one of the most harmful substances known, still isn’t banned in the United States. This week marks the 37th birthday of our primary federal law governing toxic chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). While most birthdays are a joyous occasion, we’re taking this opportunity to educate the public on just how flawed our federal chemical law is. Take for example asbestos. It’s one of the few substances that has a disease directly named after it (mesothelioma) and is widely regarded as a silent killer for many families. Top five asbestos facts:
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Safety Agency Cites Owners in Texas Plant in Explosion
| Todays's post shared from the NYTimes.com The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the owners of a fertilizer plant in West, Tex., that blew up in April, killing 15 people, with 24 “serious violations,” Senator Barbara Boxer, of California, said on Thursday. But the agency has not announced the action because its public affairs staff has been furloughed by the government shutdown, Ms. Boxer said.  The violations included unsafe handling and storage of explosive and flammable chemicals, missing labels on storage tanks, failing to pressure-test hoses, bad or missing valves, and failing to have an emergency response plan. The agency also said that some workers were not trained for their jobs. OSHA, which also proposed a fine of $118,300, decided to issue the citations now, during the government shutdown, to avoid a statute of limitations problem, Ms. Boxer said. She said that while the fine was disproportionately small, considering the deaths, injuries and widespread damage, other federal agencies were also investigating the explosion. Some of those investigations have been delayed by the shutdown, however. Ms. Boxer is chairwoman of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, which does not oversee OSHA but does oversee another agency with jurisdiction at the Texas plant, the Environmental Protection Agency. Ms. Boxer said that despite the shutdown, news of the enforcement action should be disseminated to... |
AIG Facing Lawsuit for Fraud
Today's post is shared from Courthousenews.com.
American International Group for nearly 40 years has been underreporting workers' compensation premiums, causing insured employers to pay improperly inflated state insurance surcharges, three federal classes claim.
The coordinated suits were filed this week in San Francisco, Manhattan and Newarkagainst AIG and its subsidiaries and affiliates. AIG is accused of unfair business practices, fraud, unjust enrichment and violations of federal anti-racketeering law.
The California complaint, filed by Franjo Inc. and DMS Facility Services Inc., says it all began in the 1970s when AIG "devised, implemented, participated in, and carried out nationwide schemes - later characterized by AIG's own general counsel as 'permeated with illegality' - to miscategorize, falsely report, and falsely book the AIG companies' [workers' compensation] premium as other premium (for example, as 'general liability' premium), in order to reduce defendants' expenses, inflate their profits, and unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of plaintiffs and the class." (Parentheses in original.)
AIG allegedly falsified certified annual financial reports that underreported workers' compensation (WC) figures to evade its equitable shares of financial responsibility for state-levied taxes and assessments. It caused state insurance regulators, through no fault of their own, to assess artificially inflated fees on insured employers, according to the complaint.
Click here to read the entire article.
American International Group for nearly 40 years has been underreporting workers' compensation premiums, causing insured employers to pay improperly inflated state insurance surcharges, three federal classes claim.
The coordinated suits were filed this week in San Francisco, Manhattan and Newarkagainst AIG and its subsidiaries and affiliates. AIG is accused of unfair business practices, fraud, unjust enrichment and violations of federal anti-racketeering law.
The California complaint, filed by Franjo Inc. and DMS Facility Services Inc., says it all began in the 1970s when AIG "devised, implemented, participated in, and carried out nationwide schemes - later characterized by AIG's own general counsel as 'permeated with illegality' - to miscategorize, falsely report, and falsely book the AIG companies' [workers' compensation] premium as other premium (for example, as 'general liability' premium), in order to reduce defendants' expenses, inflate their profits, and unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of plaintiffs and the class." (Parentheses in original.)
AIG allegedly falsified certified annual financial reports that underreported workers' compensation (WC) figures to evade its equitable shares of financial responsibility for state-levied taxes and assessments. It caused state insurance regulators, through no fault of their own, to assess artificially inflated fees on insured employers, according to the complaint.
Click here to read the entire article.
Raising the mandatory judicial retirement age to 80
The New York City Bar Association says it supports a proposal on the state’s Nov. 5 ballot to amend the New York Constitution to raise the mandatory retirement age to 80 for state Court of Appeals judges and Supreme Court justices.
The state constitution currently requires all state judges to retire at age 70. However, judges of the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, and justices of the state’s main trial court, the Supreme Court, may serve for up to six years after retirement so long as court administrators certify every two years that the judge’s services are necessary to expedite the business of the court, and he or she is mentally and physically able and competent to perform the full duties of the office. “The City Bar supports Proposal 6, consistent with our longstanding position that the mandatory judicial retirement age, which was enacted in 1869, is outdated,” the bar association said in a statement Monday. “Many individuals who reach the age of 70 have a substantial number of productive years ahead of them. Many states and the federal judiciary permit judges to serve past the age of 70, and New York should as well.” The association argues that raising the retirement age would ease a strained court system — in particular, permit the transfer of Supreme Court justices to the state’s overburdened family courts. In Pennsylvania, three groups of judges sued over... |
Thursday, October 10, 2013
NJ Work Environment Council Says State at Risk from Chemical Disasters
New Jersey Work Environmental Council representatives say millions in the state are still at risk from major toxic chemical disasters. At a Statehouse press conference today, the New Jersey Work Environment Council released a new 43-page report, entitled “Failure to Act,” which says thousands of New Jersey jobs and millions of residents are still at risk from toxic chemical disasters. These findings come five years after the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection adopted rules to implement the NJ Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act that were supposed to reduce that risk.
Some recommendations include stopping facility management from declaring safer technology reviews as secret, require facility management to better document their claims that adopting safer chemicals and technologies are not feasible, and to withdraw the DEP “waiver rule” that allows the agency to not enforce the IST provisions of the Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act. Other speakers spoke of the potentially dangerous risks workers, first responders, nurses and... |
California Workers' Compensation Reform: Is The System in a Ditch Now?
California is the sentinel jurisdiction for innovative decisional law, theory and statutory changes in workers' compensation. As goes California, so goes the nation. The changes to limit access are coming so quickly that perennial reform has become almost weekly now. The complexity is almost scary. Recent proposed modifications in the Independent Medical Review (IMR) process reflect what happens when statutory changes are not first vented with those who are major stakeholders, ie. injured workers and their representative. Commentary and analysis, continue to be kicked down the road as the system stalls and fails. Today's blog post is shared from http://blogs.sacbee.com.
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Last year, the California Legislature -- with the blessing of Gov. Jerry Brown -- enacted its traditional, once-a-decade overhaul of the state's multibillion-dollar-a-year system of compensating workers for job-related injuries and illnesses.
Employers, insurers, medical care providers and other players in the workers' compensation system are still sorting through what the Legislature and Brown wrought. Generally, the overhaul, Senate Bill 863, raised some cash benefits but also tightened up eligibility for, or even eliminated, other benefits. This earned rare joint support from employer groups and labor unions, which had worked on the changes privately.  A new 16-state study of workers' compensation systems, covering 60 percent of the nation's workers, says it's too early to tell what the real-world effects of SB 863 will be, specifically whether its cost-saving provisions will offset the costs of increased cash payments, as its sponsors promised.Because the effects of the 2012 overhaul are still unknown, the study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute in Cambridge, Mass., concentrated its section on California on how it compared to other states during the years following the previous overhaul in 2004. It found that disabled California workers were receiving permanent partial disability payments more often than those in other major states and that those payments tended to be longer in duration -- thus confirming one of employers' complaints,... |
Deaths Linked to Cardiac Stents Rise as Overuse Seen
Cardiovascular claims that are deemed compensable are costly medical and pharmaceutical claims. The procedures are expensive an risky and the pharmaceutical maintenance and monitoring is lifelong and expensive.Today's post is shared from Bloomberg.com
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When Bruce Peterson left the U.S. Postal Service after 24 years delivering mail, he started a travel agency. It was his dream career, his wife Shirlee said.
 Then he went to see cardiologist Samuel DeMaio for chest pain. DeMaio put 21 coronary stents in Peterson’s chest over eight months, and in one procedure tore a blood vessel and placed five of the metal-mesh tubes in a single artery, the Texas Medical Board staff said in a complaint. Unneeded stents weakened Peterson’s heart and exposed him to complications including clots, blockages “and ultimately his death,” the complaint said. DeMaio paid $10,000 and agreed to two years’ oversight to settle the complaint over Peterson and other patients in 2011. He said his treatment didn’t contribute to Peterson’s death. “We’ve learned a lot since Bruce died,” Shirlee Peterson said. “Too many stents can kill you.” Peterson’s case is part of the expanding impact of U.S. medicine’s binge on cardiac stents -- implants used to prop open the arteries of 7 million Americans in the last decade at a cost of more than $110 billion. When stents are used to restore blood flow in heart attack patients, few dispute they are beneficial. These and other acute cases account for about half of the 700,000 stent procedures in the U.S. annually. Among the other half -- elective-surgery patients in stable... |
Supreme Court Rejects Tobacco Companies’ Appeal of Florida Case
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the tobacco industry’s appeal of a Florida ruling that may help thousands of smokers sue cigarette makers over smoking-related illnesses. The nation’s highest court today turned away arguments by Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA, Reynolds American Inc.’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and Vector Group Ltd.’s Liggett unit. They challenged a $2.5 million award to the family of Charlotte Douglas, who died in 2008 of lung cancer at age 62. The Supreme Court has repeatedly declined to intervene in tobacco litigation in Florida, where more than 4,500 smoker suits are pending. So far, Florida juries have returned verdicts totaling more than $500 million against the industry, the companies said in their appeal. Cigarette makers are seeking to limit the effect of a 2006 Florida Supreme Court decision, which said a jury’s factual findings against the industry in a class-action case could serve as the starting point for individual suits. The Florida high court reaffirmed that ruling in the Douglas case. At the U.S. Supreme Court, the tobacco companies said they were being deprived of their constitutional right to due process of law. “It is impossible to conclude with any certainty in any of these cases that any jury in any proceeding has ever decided all the elements of the plaintiff’s claims in his or her favor,” the companies contended in their appeal. Douglas’s widower, James,... |
Truck driver alleges firing based on work comp claim
 Sandra Terry filed a lawsuit Sept. 17 in Madison County Circuit Court against TMCI, Peoplease Corporation and Thomas J. Manville. In her complaint, Terry alleges she was working as a truck driver for TMCI on Aug. 9, 2008, when she suffered an injury. Because she was injured while working, Terry filed for workers’ compensation benefits including medical treatment and time off work, according to the complaint. On Sept. 20, 2008, TMCI fired Terry, the suit states. Manville authorized her termination, knowing that it happened because of her workers’ compensation claim, the complaint says. In her complaint, Terry seeks general damages of more than $100,000, plus lost wages and benefits, pre-judgment interest, punitive and exemplary damages, costs and other relief the court deems just. D. Jeffrey Ezra of Ezra and Associates in Collinsville will be representing her. Madison County Circuit Court case number: 13-L-1563. |
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