INJURED WORKERS ADVOCATES:
INSURANCE RATES ARE HEADING DOWN,
DON’T CUT INJURED WORKERS’ BENEFITS,
REGULATE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION RATES
Reforms adopted in 2002 and 2003 will save billions

SACRAMENTO, CA - Injured workers and their advocates said today that the billions of dollars in cuts to injured workers’ benefits already made by the legislature this year are bringing down employers’ workers’ compensation insurance rates, and called upon the governor to let the reforms work. “The insurance rate decreases announced today reflect savings from the major cuts in injured workers’ benefits adopted this year, as well as continuing savings from reforms enacted in 2002,” said Rick Wooley, legislative committee chair for the attorneys who represent injured workers. “Let the reforms work before making additional changes. Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposal,” Wooley said “would harm thousands of injured workers.”

“More insurance rate decreases will follow in mid-2004, as other companies announce their rates,” said Wooley. “The governor is proposing changes to our workers’ compensation system that eliminate the Constitutional right of injured workers to full medical treatment to be cured and relieved from on-the-job injuries. Instead of cutting injured workers’ benefits, the governor should more fully fund the Division of Workers’ Compensation so that costly delays in processing cases will be eliminated. Task forces to combat employer and insurance carrier fraud would also reduce workers’ compensation costs by billions of dollars. These should be done before reducing meager injured worker benefits even further.”

 

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California Applicants’ Attorneys Association
Serving California Injured Workers Since 1966
801 12th Street, Suite 201, Sacramento, CA 95814