Workers’ Compensation Cost Drivers

It can seem strange to some that employers may not want to provide compensation coverage for their employees following an accident. However, understanding the costs involved in compensation and how these expenses can negatively affect an employer’s profitability can help a person to recognize why so many claims may be challenged by employers. Ultimately, companies are responsible for covering their employees when compensation is necessary. However,employers balance this against the costs of that compensation and how these expenses could complicate the survival or growth of the company and the employment of its workers.

Cost drivers for workers’ compensation are plentiful, and can easily trigger an employer to deny a claim and ask an injured employee to go through the repeal process to prove the sincerity or severity of their injury. A primary concern for any employer or their compensation insurers is the price of medical bills. With high quality in healthcare, Americans also face high prices for this treatment. This transfers to employers when a worker files an injury claim under their workers’ compensation plan.

In addition to worrying about treatment costs, fraud concerns are a major problem for workers’ compensation. For some employees, compensation is less of a legitimate way to receive coverage for an on-the-job injury and more of a way to make quick money and get time off of work. This sort of devious behavior makes the system more prone to reject actual claims of needy workers, as it is desperate to weed out those who are lying to their employers.

Among the largest causes, it should be added that some companies are simply less willing to trust their employees to file claims appropriately. Whether fraud has created distrust or the company is simply trying to cut back on costs for whatever reason, certain employers may attempt to turn down a claim simply because they have a small suspicion that it is false. To learn more about the appeal process and how a worker can fight for the benefits they need and deserve, contact a workers’ compensation attorney.