California Creates Law Changing Workers’ Compensation System
| October 8th, 2012
October 8, 2012 California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed legislature to improve the state’s workers’ compensation system. According to Reuters, Senate Bill 863 will lower premiums for businesses while increasing benefits for injured workers. The law will help insurers cut costs by getting rid of benefits for certain health conditions and creating fee schedules where they did not previously exist. Also, it will cut back both the future earning capacity of a recipient when establishing benefits and the number of doctors available for treatment. The changes are expected to reduce the number of claims by 4.5 percent by the end of next year, resulting in just under $1 billion in savings. California Social Security Disability benefits for claims due to permanent disability are expected to rise by 3.2 percent in 2014, creating a little over a half of a billion dollars debt, which will results in savings of around $300,000,000 for California. This will help prevent a market crisis from occurring as it did a decade ago that cut market shares in half; however, more price increases will be needed to make the state a competitive market for the underwriting of workers’ compensation policies. The California Personal Injury Lawyers with Berg Injury Lawyers believe the changes will make it more difficult for an individual to receive benefits after filing a claim, making it more important than ever to have a knowledgeable attorney on your side if you’ve been hurt on the job.
