Worker Compensation Excess(Class Discussion) Management Coursework

Worker Compensation Excess:



California is often pointed to by the business community as representing the worst-case state for worker compensation excess. The California Workers' Compensation Institute reports that during the 1980s, appeals to the state Workers' Compensation Appeals Board increased 63 percent, and the litigation rate climbed from 25 percent of all claims to nearly 36 percent.

In the mid-2000s, the Public Policy Institute of California released a report indicating California had a "Worker's Compensation Crisis."

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Here are a few more recent articles from 2015 and 2016 regarding workers compensation issues in California and the current initiatives surrounding fixing the program:

Denied Treatment: How California workers' comp is failing injured workers

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Profiteering masquerades as medical care for injured California workers

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Finally, there is a 2017 article talking about how California is still the nation's most costly workers compensation program in the United States:

Despite ‘reforms,’ California’s workers’ comp system remains the nation’s most costly

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After reading the above articles, use them as your points of reference for this week's discussion.

Talk about how you would craft a law that changes the worker's compensation program to make it "better."

Would you leave it alone because although it is the most expensive it has some of the best coverage for workers?

Would you completely eliminate it and try something else?

Perhaps you might take a middle ground and attempt to reduce fraud and waste?

Whatever your position, please respond as to how you would change the law, why you would change the law, and argue why you believe others should agree with your position on this issue.