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Index March 2008
Long Time WCB Critic Proposes Solution"Everyone but the claimant derives some monetary benefit from the never ending culture of denial. . . . One of the proposals of Meredith was to have workers pay a proportion of their wages into the system along with the employer. . . There would be no need for an Appeals Commission, Decision Review Boards, Adjudicators, Case Managers, Medical Services, Legal Services, Appeals Advisory Boards, Directors of these Boards etc. The bureaucracy could be reduced by more than 80% with employers premiums being reduced significantly. "After studying workers compensation programs throughout the world, a person can only come to one conclusion. It does not work! Every WCB system is constantly being criticized for the way they handle claims. When claimants benefits go up, premiums also go up to pay for increased benefits, the pendulum swings to where Governments bring in changes to reduce benefits and premiums. This pendulum swing goes on continuously without any abatement. A good example is the State of California where benefits to claimants were reduced by 70% with massive profits and premium reductions for employers. The pendulum is now shifting to increasing the benefits for workers and attempting to maintain premiums at the present level. The system simply does not work as it either swings in favor of the claimant or swings in favor of the employer.We have seen great changes in all our daily lives, yet the way workers compensation operates still remains the same. One of the proposals of Meredith was to have workers pay a proportion of their wages into the system along with the employer. The State of Washington does this and rarely do I ever hear anything relative to any problems they are having. Inclusion of workers into the plan would most likely result in very few fraudulent claims. The system we have now relies on a culture of denial which creates jobs for Boards, just as crime creates jobs for the police, legal profession, the courts etc. Because of the lucrative nature of the jobs created by a culture of denial, claim costs are greatly exaggerated due to the number of doctors involved, each providing an opinion that is not based on any medical certainty. These medical opinions then are used by decision makers who have no medical expertise and claims are denied. The appeals system then bring in the costs associated with the Appeals Commission, adding more costs to the system. The Appeals Commission and WCB then disagree and go to the courts, again driving up costs. Everyone but the claimant derives some monetary benefit from the never ending culture of denial. A better system could be put into place where there is no culture of denial reducing the costs by significant amounts. If the system was changed simply to a sickness and disability compensation scheme where workers would pay say a small proportion of their gross wage to supplement employers premiums and the system was changed to provide sick benefits for workers for short term sickness, short term disability and long term disability without any hassles whether the sickness or injury was work related would ensure that all workers received benefits without the constant wrangling over whether the injury or disease was work related. Who cares! Most if not all unionized workers as well as Government workers have these benefits without having to go through the Gestapo like environment of the workers compensation systems that feeds off the culture of denial like bloodthirsty sharks. With a system of this sort, there is no need for special presumptive legislation for firefighters or any other occupational group who has the finances to fund epidemiological studies. There would be no need for an Appeals Commission, Decision Review Boards, Adjudicators, Case Managers, Medical Services, Legal Services, Appeals Advisory Boards, Directors of these Boards etc. The bureaucracy could be reduced by more than 80% with employers premiums being reduced significantly. More employers would relocate to the Province because of the significantly reduced premiums. MLA's would no longer be inundated with calls from disgruntled workers, the legislature could get on with other matters not pertaining to workers compensation problems. The way WCB is run today is a concept that should have been revamped years ago. If you think like a dinosaur, progress can never be attained no matter whether it involves the health systems, workers compensation systems or whatever. We live in the present, we do not live in the past, nor should we. Workers compensation in the early 1900's may have served a worthwhile purpose but in today's world it is nothing more than an excuse for the people involved in the process to have a well paying job at the expense of workers and employers. Gerry Miller (Gerry Miller is a long time WCB critic from Alberta.) http://www.bcbuildingtrades.org/pdf/TradeTalk/TT_Winter_2006.pdf Back to Article Index |