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Our legal system has many checks and balances in place to protect citizens and to ensure that any one group can?t change the rules for their own benefit.
But the insurance industry and big business don?t like to play by the rules. And they?re behind yet another bad bill pending in the N.C. General Assembly that would strip away the rights of injured workers and every working person in North Carolina.
Senate Bill 174, which today passed the N.C. Senate, threatens the medical and disability benefits of injured workers. The N.C. Industrial Commission, our state?s workers? comp court, has certain rules and procedures in place to protect workers if the insurance company decides to arbitrarily stop paying on a workers? compensation claim and stop covering medical treatment.
Senate Bill 174 would take away those protections.
If the insurance company stops paying benefits and covering medical treatment, an injured worker would be forced to wait months or years ? suffering physically and financially ? for a formal hearing at the Industrial Commission before their benefits and medical treatment could be reinstated.
The current law has a fast-track provision that allows injured workers to quickly appeal the insurance company?s decision to terminate benefits.
But Senate Bill 174 would take away this fast-track provision. For injured workers, that would mean no benefits and no medical care for months, and perhaps even years, until a judge decides that workers? comp benefits should be reinstated.
And guess who has to pay the legal bill for these appeals hearings after workers? comp benefits are terminated? Not the insurance company, but the injured worker.
Injured people can?t return to work if they don?t have access to appropriate medical treatment. And without workers? comp benefits, how will these hurting people pay for food, clothing, shelter and other necessities for their families while they?re out of work.
This is a clear example of justice delayed, justice denied that former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger so eloquently warned us about.
Giving the insurance company this kind of power over the health and financial wellbeing of injured and disabled workers is unfair, and it?s unjust.
We have to stop Senate Bill 174 from becoming law, just as we did with Senate Bill 10.?
The N.C. House of Representatives will soon vote on this proposed legislation, Senate Bill 174. They could vote as early as next week.
Call your N.C. Representatives today and demand they vote NO on Senate Bill 174.
Find out who represents you in the N.C. General Assembly?here.?
We also encourage you to contact members of the N.C. House Committee on Regulatory Reform and the N.C. House Judiciary Committee and tell them you opposed Senate Bill 174 because it is unfair and unjust.
Find contact information for members of the N.C. House Committee on Regulatory Reform here.?
You can also sign a petition against Senate Bill 174 here.
Find contact information for members of the N.C. House Judiciary Committee here.?
Senate Bill 174 is just the latest effort to dismantle the N.C. workers? comp court by the insurance industry and big business. You may remember my earlier blog posts about Gov. Pat McCrory?s play to fire the state?s workers? comp judges.?
Activist voters rallied and called and emailed their elected officials in Raleigh and helped defeat that bill. But a new version of the legislation was just introduced in the N.C. House, House Bill 1011. It seeks to do the same thing that Senate Bill 10 would have done. We need to stop this bad bill, too.?
Sign this petition?to let N.C. legislators know that you?re against any changes to the workers? comp court.??When you?re talking with or emailing your state senators and reps, make sure they know ?you expect them to vote against BOTH Senate Bill 174 and House Bill 1011.?
We need to end these attacks on the N.C. workers? comp system and injured workers.
Source: http://deutermanlaw.com/uncategorized/sb-10-justice-delayedjustice-denied
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