CA Peace and Freedom Party Statement on Workers' Compensation Scandal

Kevin, I'm not sure what qualifies you to discredit the laundry list of people you named in your article. I would be surprised if you were acctually involved in the insurance buisness. So I must assume that you have had some sort of experience with insurnace and workers compensation. I am an insurance agent in centeral california, have a little bit of experince, and I don't belive I'm qualified to throw the acusations you dispense.

I read your mission statements, one in particular stood out to me:

"To encourage a world where globalization is not about homogeneity and exploitation, but rather, about diversity and cooperation."

I could not agree more, Globalizations is not about exploitation and homogeneity, but you can't lose site of the rest of the statement, you can't just be about one half of the statement.
How does a monopolistic workers comp program fit in to your diversity are you against a capitalistic Market? I'm not, I see in other state Works comp. fraud and level of care is still an issue. Another question: Is telling your readers to work against the government is that what you mean by " encouraging...cooperation "?

I just can't belive what I read here, I experience the fraud everyday, I see the changes as they happen. No, I don't belive the system is worth a crap, but it's what we have, and change comes in small bits. If all I had to drive to work was a 1979 Ford Pinto, I might not be as comfortable as my neighbor driving a Lexus, But I would be happy I didn't have to walk. In your rants on whats wrong remember, it could be worse, we could live in a system where we did not even have the voice to write such as we do. Encourage the changes that have been made, maybe even venture past your one sided view and try to understand how the fraud in small buisness owners drive up the cost, and delays the care for everyone.

I expect this post to fall to ridicule, but I don't mind I will never visit this site again in my life.

Anybody who does not believe the recent workers compensation reforms were necessary must be unfamiliar with the state of the pre-reform work comp system. Attorneys are a notorious bunch, and for good reason. A fairly large group of applicant attorneys twisted and exploited the workers comp system for their personal benefit. A notorious group of doctors also horribly scammed the system by egregiously inflating permanent disability ratings, continuing temporary disability status for artificially long periods of time, continuing treatment for longer than is reasonable, etc etc. The attorneys and doctors have had unspoken quid pro quo agreements that have benefited both at the expense of the insurance companies, California employers and, yes, even injured workers.

Further, among many doctors who may or may not have specialized in work comp, there were attitudes that seemed to believe giving an 'injured' worker disability authorization is as easy as asking who the person's employer is and when they want to go back to work. Worker's compensation is set up to be a no-fault system, however it is employers exclusively that bear the direct financial burden of an inefficient and exploited system. The State Disability Insurance program is even worse, with very little oversight or investigation of what qualifies as a legitimate disability.

Oversight of all sides of an adversarial system such as this is absolutely necessary. Like Mr. Akin, I tend to be distrustful of corporate interests, and I think with good reason, however it rarely serves our social interest to be overly simplistic when debating issues of social import. The question now is not whether or not the reforms were necessary, but whether or not the legislature over-shot the mark in reforming the system; ney, not whether or not they did, but specifically where they may have and the factors supporting why or why not.

Permanent disability may be one of the areas where the reforms may have overshot the mark. Again, though, permanent disability is what determines how much the applicant attorneys make (regardless of the work they put in) and they were 'encouraging' the doctors (whether explicitly or implicitly) to give high disability ratings. The data suggests, however, that permanent disability ratings have dropped by over half. I do not automatically believe that the reduction in PD awards is evidence of impropriety or unfairness, but I acknowledge the appropriateness of investigating the issue.

One area I do believe that carriers are asleep at the wheel is in investigating (and prosecuting) fraud. If the insurance companies have a choice about making significant financial (and human) investments in fighting fraud, or just passing along the cost through their premium rates, it seems likely that they will forego the investment in fighting fraud as all that does is increase their operating expenses. That, however, serves their own interests rather than the interests of their individual policyholders, and represents a violation of their fiduciary duty to the policyholder.

So investigate, research, but be scientific, not emotional or simplistic.

I HAVE BEEN IN THE SAFETY MANAGEMENT FIELD FOR OVER 20 YEARS . I HAVE SEEN ALL TYPES OF FRAUDS, BUT I MUST SAY IN FAIRNESS TO THE INJURIED PERSONS , MANY TIME THE EMPLOYER IS THE MAJOR CAUSE, WHEN THEY FAIL TO CORRECT THESE SMALL PROBLEMS THAT ARE BROUGHT TO THEIR ATTENTION. WHEN WE FAIL TO IGNORE THE WARNING SIGNS IT CAN BE VERY COSTLY. STOP! LOOK! SAVE!

Article posted here:

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/22/18290568.php

In January I was forced to attend a hearing with Safeway's attorney and my attorney. Safeway wanted me to settle my two medical awards for thirty thousand dollars. I refused the money. I need surgery on my lower back and right knee. My attorney felt I should settle, because I could loose everything if I go to court. The two attorneys and the judge wanted me to settle and close my file, while informing me that medicare would pay for my sugeries. I don't want the taxpayer to be responsible for my surgeries while Safeway continues to profit off the community.
I met Mr. Zachary in 2006 at a fraud commission meeting in Sacramento. I told him for the past year that Safeway has refused to pay my doctors bill and my medications. He wrote my information all down and I didn't hear anything more from him. William Zachary should be removed from the fraud commission board. He is not and never will be for an injuried worker. On March 1, 2007 I will be in Sacramento to ask Mr. Zachary,why medicare should pay for my surgeries? Sincerely Beverly Schenck