Tacking Health Care Costs Onto California Farm Produce

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.nytimes.com

Farm labor contractors across California, the nation’s biggest agricultural engine, are increasingly nervous about a provision of the Affordable Care Act that will require hundreds of thousands of field workers to be covered by health insurance.

While the requirement was recently delayed until 2015, the contractors, who provide farmers with armies of field workers, say they are already preparing for the potential cost the law will add to their business, which typically operates on a slender profit margin.

“I’ve been to at least a dozen seminars on the Affordable Care Act since February,” said Chuck Herrin, owner of Sunrise Farm Labor, a contractor based here. “If you don’t take the right approach, you’re wiped out.”

CDC estimates Lyme disease hits 300,000 each year

Outdoor workers continue to suffer from disease of the environment. Lyme disease, a cmpensable condition, remains a critical problem for those who work in the great outdoors. Today's post was shared by CIDRAP and comes from www.cidrap.umn.edu

A new estimate on Lyme disease suggests that about 300,000 Americans are sickened each year, which is about 10 times higher than the number of cases reported, according to an analysis of the latest information by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Scientists from the agency base their projection on findings from three ongoing studies that are designed to better gauge the number of people diagnosed with Lyme disease each year. CDC researchers reported the preliminary findings yesterday at a tickborne disease conference in Boston.
Ongoing studies are based on medical claims information for about 22 million insured people, a survey of clinical laboratories, and self-reported Lyme disease cases from a survey of the general public, the CDC said in a press release today.

UW study finds link between lead paint, discipline problems

Lead paint continues to cause problems in the workplace and in homes throught the nation. Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.jsonline.com

A new study that analyzed medical and discipline data from Milwaukee Public Schools found young children who are exposed to lead are nearly three times more likely to be suspended from school by the fourth grade.

Lead — commonly found in paint in older homes and rental properties — may be more responsible for school discipline problems than previously realized, according to the study's author, Michael Amato, a doctoral candidate in the psychology department and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lead has been cited as a contributor to the academic achievement gap between black and white children because the powerful neurotoxin is more likely to be found in low-income housing. High levels of lead in the bloodstream may make children more likely to behave impulsively and may shorten their attention spans, according to previous research.

Fast-food workers call for nationwide walkout Aug. 29

Low wages, adverse working conditions  and minimal benefits are epidemic in the US fast food industry. As workers' compensation benefits are based on salaries, fast food workers tend to receive minimum standard benefits. Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.washingtonpost.com

Emboldened by an outpouring of support on social media, low-wage fast-food and retail workers from eight cities who have staged walkouts this year are calling for a national day of strikes Aug. 29.

The workers — who are backed by local community groups and national unions and have held one-day walkouts in cities such as New York, St. Louis and Detroit — say they have received pledges of support from workers in dozens of cities across the country.

The workers are calling for a wage of $15 an hour and the right to form a union. Organizers of the walkout say cashiers, cooks and crew members at fast-food restaurants are paid a median wage of $8.94 an hour.

Since some 200 workers walked off their jobs at fast-food restaurants in New York City in November, the strikes have moved across the country, drawing attention to a fast-growing segment of the workforce that until recently had shown no inclination to organize for purposes of collective bargaining.

NJ Court Sets the Evidentiary Proof Standard for a Pulmonary - Cardiovascular Claim

A NJ Workers' Compensation Court affirmed the dismissal of a pulmonary claim ruling that the evidence presented was lacking, and that the statutory limitations of expert medical fees do not act to the detriment of the injured worker in the proof of a workers' compensation claim.

"In her written opinion, the compensation judge found the testimony of Dr.Kritzberg more credible than that of Dr. Hermele. The judge found that petitioner's counsel “trie[d] to make it appear that petitioner presented to Dr. Hermele on his own for treatment. That is simply not true. Petitioner's counsel sent petitioner to Dr. Hermele. Dr. Hermele did not treat petitioner.” Additionally, of great significance to the compensation judge was the fact that petitioner had been treating with a cardiologist for twenty-three years, testified that he believed his breathing difficulties were related to his heart condition, and had never been treated for any pulmonary condition, despite testifying that his pulmonary complaints worsened in 1988, while continuing to work for respondent for eleven more years. The judge inferred that petitioner's cardiologist never referred him to a pulmonary specialist for treatment.

The Court also held that an "adverse inference" could be drawn when the injured worker does not offer supporting medical records into evidence to prove a claim.

"The compensation judge drew an adverse inference “from the fact the petitionernever produced a certified copy of the records from his treating cardiologist orhad Dr. Hermele review said records as part of his evaluation[,]” noting that Dr.Hermele readily admitted “there is a relationship between the heart and thelungs.”

Furthermore, the medical evidence presented at the time of trial, support the lack of causal relationship of a pulmonary medical condition caused by a pre-existing cardiovascular condition, rather than an independent pulmonary condition cause by exposure to industrial air pollution.

"Critical for the court were the chest x-rays taken of the petitioner which
showed that he did not have bi-lateral flattening of his diaphragm. If he
truly had pulmonary disease unrelated to his heart condition[,] you would expect
to find bi-lateral flattening of the diaphragm. Only the left side of petitioner's diaphragm was flattened[,] which is to be expected since both doctors
agreed petitioner has cardiomegaly (enlargement of the heart).....

Workers' Compensation Benefits, Employer Costs Rise with Economic Recovery

NASI issued the following press release reflecting that workers' compensation costs are continuing to soar on the back of ever increasing medical expenses. The real question that remains unanswered is whether the Affordable Care Care will rein in costs and capture the workers' compensation delivery system in the process. Increased costs are good for workers' compensation carriers as they increase premiums to reflects those numbers. Looking down the road, a single Universal Medical Benefit program may present the only true alternative to achieve the cost savings employers need and want. Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.nasi.org

After declining in the wake of the recession, workers’ compensation benefits paid to injured workers and costs borne by employers increased in 2011 as the U.S. economy continued to recover, according to a new report by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI).

Total benefits rose by 3.5 percent to $60.2 billion.  The benefits include a 4.5 percent rise in medical care spending to $29.9 billion and a 2.6 percent rise in wage replacement benefits to $30.3 billion. Total costs to employers rose by 7.1 percent to $77.1 billion.

"Workers’ compensation often grows with the growth in employment and earnings,” said Marjorie Baldwin, chair of NASI’s Workers’ Compensation Data Panel and Professor of Economics in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.  When benefits and costs are measured relative to total covered wages, then benefits remained unchanged, and costs to employers rose very modestly (to $1.27 per $100 of wages) after declining in the previous five years.

Workers’ Compensation Benefits, Coverage, and Costs, 2011
Covered workers (in thousands)
Covered wages (in billions)
Workers' compensation benefits (in billions)
Cash benefits	$30.3	2.6%
Employer costs (in billions)	$77.1	7.1%
Amounts per $100 of covered wages
Cash payments to workers
Source: National...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Related articles

• FL Workers' Compensation May Be Going Up (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Workers compensation hike on California employers proposed (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• "Opting Out" of Worker's Compensation Hurts Workers and Employers (Part 1) (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Senate fails to revive workers' comp bill for first responders (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Liberty Mutual FIles Suit in NY To Stop Elimination of Reopener Fund (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Truck Drivers Beware - Your Insurance May Not be What You Think (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Changes to California Insurance Don’t Help

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.lawyersandsettlements.com

By Gordon Gibb

Fresno, CA:

A California woman whose life has been described as “a living hell” blames the insurance underwriter, in association with her former employer, for leaving her high and dry with
denied disability insurance for the past eight years. Injured on the job in 2003, she was only paid benefits for two years. In spite of substantial evidence as to the woman’s disability, the insurer stopped payments, resulting in job loss and homelessness.

Guadalupe Ortega even had her children taken away from her, according to The Fresno Bee (8/6/13).

Ortega’s denied ERISA disability story is heart-wrenching. The one-time employee of Lyons Magnus of Fresno was injured on the job about 10 years ago, suffering injuries to her shoulder, neck and back. Her employer acknowledged that Ortega’s injuries were work-related and occurred on the job. Doctors having examined Ortega concur that the woman is 70 percent disabled.