US Supreme Court ACA Decision Could Affect Workers Comp
The US Supreme Court ACA decision could easily affect Workers Comp. Let us call it the old Law of Unintended Consequences.
There are multiple articles on this blog concerning the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) and its possible effect on WC.

For reference some of the articles are:
- Oklahoma’s Workers Comp Opt Out Program May Be Trumped By Obamacare
- Five Ways ObamaCare and Workers Comp Are Similar
- Obamacare And Its Effect On Workers Compensation
Would the Workers Compensation industry actually see a spike in claims if the Supreme Court guts the ACA? My answer would be an unequivocal – Yes.
I have always felt since working my way through the WC claims hierarchy that people are going to look under every stone to find some type of insurance coverage.
A possible scenario in this case would be that all of a sudden someone cannot renew their ACA-sponsored policy. Who could blame that person for attempting to file a WC claim to receive treatment for an injury that was originally treated under a health insurance policy? Desperate people do desperate things.
This is not to say these types of claims would ever be accepted by a WC claims department. However, if the claim is reported, the requirement of a full investigation will still use up a large amount of time for a claims department.
The states and the Feds have all said they will bring in measures to keep health insurance alive for ACA policies.

However, would there not likely be a haircut of people covered as the health insurance carriers would only have to look at the Law of Large Numbers to see that a smaller group of health plan participants would prevent the risk being spread among a large enough group.
I am not advocating for or against the ACA. Numbers do not lie, unless you look at the wrong numbers.
One only has to look to the opinion proffered by Dr. Richard Victor- the outgoing Director of WCRI. He presented a very interesting slant on how WC and the Affordable Healthcare Act would collide with each other.
The US Supreme Court ACA decision is likely days or weeks away. In the words of Bananarama, it could be a “Cruel, Cruel Summer” if you work in a WC claims department.
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