Category Archives: Workers Compensation
Lawmakers Mull Workers’ Compensation Prescription Drug Changes
A proposed new Department of Financial Services rule would limit prescription drug reimbursement for workers’ compensation medical providers in the Sunshine State. If enacted, the new rule would prohibit doctors from dispensing prescription drugs without prior, written authorization. Unless these authorization requests follow specific rules, the insurance company may deny them. Absent unexpected developments,… Read More »
Workers’ Compensation And Lost Wage Replacement
Job injuries are financially devastating to most families. Most Americans have practically nothing in their savings accounts. Making matters worse, a job injury victim is a family’s only or primary breadwinner. The inability to earn a paycheck is also very hard emotionally on job injury victims. The inability to provide for their families often… Read More »
What To Expect In A Workers’ Compensation Claim
Florida and most other states enacted workers’ compensation laws around 1910, when management and labor struck the Grand Bargain. Management provided no-fault insurance that covered economic losses, and workers gave up their right to sue in court. Back in the day, workers only needed to file paperwork to obtain these benefits. Now, the system… Read More »
Guilty Plea In Employer Workers’ Comp Fraud Case
A Lakeland construction company owner faces up to twenty years in federal prison after he admitted to multiple workers’ compensation fraud counts. According to court documents, the 52-year-old man had agreements with contractors and subcontractors to use workers employed by him at construction sites and these workers were often undocumented immigrants who were actually… Read More »
Does Workers’ Comp Cover Medical Bills?
Payment of all reasonably necessary medical expenses is a key component of workers’ compensation insurance plans in Florida. The insurance company must not only pay these expenses. In most cases, it must pay them even if the job injury victim was partially, mostly, or entirely at fault for a work-related trauma injury, like a… Read More »
Court Slams Insurance Company’s Bad Faith Tactics
Two insurance carriers quickly settled a catastrophic injury claim while a third one “sat on its thumbs,” according to a unanimous decision from a federal appeals court. In reaching this conclusion, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the insurance company’s excuse that a key witness was not fully cooperative. “American Builders did everything… Read More »
Top Five Workers’ Compensation Denial Reasons
Insurance companies state that Claims Examiners pay about 80 percent of workers’ compensation claims. This claim is very misleading. There’s a big difference between paid and paid in full. Insurance companies often cite one of the reasons listed below, even if the rationale for denial is very weak, and then pressure victims into settling… Read More »
Can I Sue Outside The System In Florida?
Not very often. The Sunshine State, like most other jurisdictions, has a very broad exclusive remedy law. Injured workers usually cannot sue their employers in court. Likewise, injured subcontractor employees cannot short-circuit the exclusive remedy law and file legal actions against general contractors. However, there are some exceptions to this law, some of which… Read More »
Workers’ Compensation Insurance Premiums Drop Again
According to a recent survey, insurance premiums are up almost across the board, except for job injury insurance. Business owner policies, commercial auto insurance policies, umbrella policies, and general liability policies all got more expensive. But workers’ compensation premiums dropped another 1.4 percent. “2022’s hard market was reflected in this year’s Ivans Index, showing… Read More »
Medical Evidence In Florida Workers’ Compensation Claims
In 2020, work injury-related medical expenses totaled almost $35 billion. Overall medical expenses, including job injury-related medical bills, have increased significantly since the 2008 Great Recession ended. However, workers’ compensation medical benefits have declined over this same period, mostly because workers’ compensation insurance premiums have dropped significantly over this same period. Less money in… Read More »
