Obamacare And Its Effect On WC
The Obamacare And Its Effect on WC. Obamacare has hit the airwaves very heavily due to the SCOTUS’s decision last week. Can Obamacare’s influence even reach into the Workers Comp world? I stepped into the fray in 2009 by coining the term from the result of Workers Comp interfacing with Obamacare as Obamacomp. I wrote this article on Obamacomp almost three years ago.
One of the most read articles in this blog is on The Death of Workers Compensation that I wrote over two years ago. I received very angry emails from the article. I meant the article as a wake-up call to Workers Comp insurance personnel to be flexible and to attain as much education as possible.
I recommend WC begin looking over health and long-term disability information. This would provide a background into the health area in case Workers Compensation is federalized into Obamacomp.
If Obamacare survives through the next voting cycle, the idea of Workers Comp being provided on a 24-hour health policy with an add-in of disability payments could be a viable alternative when examined by the Federal Insurance Office. The FIO has really s
tayed away from interstate insurance transactions. I think they will expand into the area in the next 5 – 7 years.
The AFLAC model is a very easy way to look at how the payments and healthcare would be administered if more of Workers Comp was federalized. AF
LAC does provi de medical and disability payments to persons that have enrolled in one of their policies.
I have read in some of the LinkedIn posts and in a few articles that medical payments for Workers Compensation would lessen as with Romneycare in Massachusetts. I would have to disagree as there were heavy WC reforms enacted in Mass in the same time period as Romneycare.
The other difference is the scale of just one state as compared to a nationwide change. If WC medical payments do decrease, it will be a much needed break for employers.
©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice
2 Responses
Although I sit in Quebec where the government runs WC I disagree that WC will be rolled into the medical system in the US. It is estimated that only 2% medical costs are WC related so it is clearly not a big piece. But I suggest watching VT where single payer health coverage has been passed. As yet WC may become a part of it but most all testimony at the State hearings have leaned heavily against rolling WC into the single payer system. However with politicians now running health care it could turn the other way with no apparent reason.
Scott, thanks for reading and posting in the blog.