Can we head this one off at the pass?

[annabanana]

Does anyone have figures on workman's comp?

You know that the MSM always runs those tapes of 'cheats' doing roofing & construction while they're collecting disability payments. I see this constant negative exposure as the first salvo in the tort reform wars.

Can anyone give figures as to what percent of disability recipients are cheating, or have been caught cheating? My initial guess was 95% legit and 5% cheat. My husband (not paying as much attention as I am about ANYTHING) was incredulous. "No", he says "This cheating thing is huge! I'll bet that MOST are cheaters."

Can anyone give best guess figures, and how can we begin to stop this train. Those evil "trial lawyers" are the public's last chance at redress.

[knowbody0]

1. democrats should all apply for disability

and that would not be cheating

[CAcyclist]

2. Check with the Office of Employment

In Ca, it's EDD. They would probably have a record of past fraud - or maybe the attorney general's office. I doubt there is significant fraud.

[annabanana]

5. thank you!

[lapfog_1]

3. I don't have statistics

but I am part owner of a small business here in CA.

We did some remodeling a while back, hired a prime contractor
and had him provide us with a copy of his liability insurance
policy. Anyway, the prime hired a sub, the sub hired a sheet
rock guy. Guy fell through our roof 1 floor and got hurt.
Turns out the sub was not insured. Guy immediately went on
full disability and the state sued US for $140,000. We hired
an investigator to see if the guy was really disabled... turns
out he was hanging sheet rock less than a week later. We
turned our photos over to the state so they could prosecute
(and we could get out of paying the whole $140,000). They
couldn't care less. As long as they could get us to pay for
this guys claim, they simply didn't care.

We ended up paying the $140,000 over the next two years.
We also had to let two employees go and none of the owners
took a penny for that entire time period.
With the cost of investigator and lawyer, the total was
more like $200,000 or more.

[Rjnerd]

4. Having been thru the workers comp process

Most of the cheating happens on the side of the insurance companies. Basically if you have an injury that is less obvious than a heavy weight mashing you flat in direct view of a supervisor, they will use every possible tactic to delay the claim. If you have an injury that doesn't show on an X ray, they will only pay when a court orders them to. Basically they have learned that if they can drag out payment with all the usual stalling tactics available, after a year, about a third of claimants just give up. They haven't gotten better, they just stopped wasting their energy on the insurance company.

When I destroyed my hands typing, that was the start of a long and tangled process. After improper handling by my superiors (failed to report, couldn't believe that typing could injure), the insurance company sent over an "occupational nurse" someone it seems whose only purpose was to encourage me to take steps that would render me inelegible for a claim. Got arguments like "Your wierd hobby that we know nothing about, is the cause" (I am a change ringer (see http://www.nagcr.org ) Had to dredge up a british doctor who told them "his hobby likely delayed the onset". (they ignored the part, where I stopped doing it at first symptoms, and things continued to get worse).

It took 9 months in my case, before I saw a dime. During that time, the employer laid me off, (despite the outstanding claim) which induced further delays (luckily there was a case that said a layoff can be used as a hard "start of lost income" date, your state WILL vary). The tricks I learned to subsist on minimal cash have served me well in my current long term * economy underemployment...

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