Workers Comp Opinions Three Years Ago – Accurate?
Recently, I was interviewed by a great reporter on my Workers Comp opinions. The same reporter interviewed me in 2022 on a few workers comp issues.
I decided to see how accurate my and other workers comp professionals’ opinions from three years ago at the height of the pandemic were or were not looking back to March 2022.
For reference, the reporter’s name is/was Phillip M. Perry and you can find the 2022 article here.
Not Looking For Everyone to Be Right
Going back three years ago to see what prognostications came to fruition can be a risky attempt. I will not identify the interviewees, only their quote and accuracy. The next section covers my workers comp opinions along with other WC professionals.
2022 Workers Comp Opinions
Let us look at the Workers Comp opinions from the 2022 article for opinion accuracy.
COVID-19 claims have never or will never reach the expected levels. Correct – check out my prior article that pointed out an NCCI study graph on COVID claims levels. The healthcare industry did have a large and expected increase. The graph in the article indicates that COVID only reached low levels in workplace injuries.
“The average cost on COVID claims is less than $5,000,” “In contrast, the average cost for a typical workers’ comp claim – combining medical and lost time – is about $20,000.” Correct – other than the healthcare industry – the COVID claims were not as expensive as expected.
“If they can show that an injury was in the course and scope of their employment, it would be compensable. I could see an employer disputing it, but I don’t think it would go very far.” Correct – most COVID-19 claims were paid by the insurance carriers
“People are finally getting medical treatment they need after avoiding going to the doctor’s office for so long,” “I’ve been seeing quite a few mega claims because people are delaying treatment for something like back surgery for 18 months. By the time they get treatment, the condition is worse.” Mega claims can develop slowly when they arise from delayed treatment. Correct – in my claims loss run analyses many injured employees did not want to attend an appointment due to the COVID-19 pandemic exposure.
Bottom Line
Most of the workers comp opinions from the article were correct. I did not cover them all. I do encourage my readers to go to the first article link above to see more workers comp opinions from three years ago.
Most of them were correct even though all of the data was not in from the pandemic.
