Masonry Magazine March 1980 Page. 26
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WORKERS COMPENSATION
continued from page 25
form in the benefit distribution system.
• The new high benefit levels have generated entirely new utilization patterns.
• Little or no efforts have been made to improve the administration of laws at the state level.
1972 Report Blueprint. In 1972 when the National Commission's report was issued, the Alliance described it as a "Blueprint for Action." We were strongly supportive of its proposed essential recommendations. In fact, these recommendations in many respects were similar to the Alliance Action Program developed in 1970 and which we then were seeking to have the states adopt. Our position in support of the National Commission's recommendations was shared by an overwhelming segment of the business community.
However, the National Commission report's criticism of the inadequacy of state compensation laws did not come as a surprise. Efforts at upgrading the state compensation laws generally had not been successful because business representatives often were not willing to support adequate benefit levels without securing, in return, control over the many wastes identified in the system. But the Commission's report painted such a dismal picture of the general inadequacy of benefit levels this urge to get some quid pro quo was temporarily laid aside. A general consensus developed in support of higher benefit levels.
The high cost of workers compensation today is partly a reflection of this decision to temporarily sidetrack demands for the elimination of waste in the system. The result now is many state compensation laws not only provide for very generous benefits but they also continue to condone substantial waste and abuse. If cost is to be brought back under control, we must attack practices allowing waste and abuse to flourish.
The National Commission made little effort in this direction. It faintly suggested temporary total disability benefits be limited to those workers who are, in fact, unable to perform any work. The obvious need for reform was overlooked by most reformers.
Follow Up Forgotten. The Commission did recognize substantial waste and abuse had crept into determination and adjudication of permanent partial disabilities. It suggested the appointment of a "follow-up" commission to review the whole area of permanent partial disability and to make recommendations. Unfortunately, this was never acted upon.
The Alliance continues to support the high benefit levels recommended by the National Commission to the states. But the need to press for correction of the system's abuses is just as important today as the need was in 1972 to achieve adequacy in benefits. We are firmly convinced the overcompensation resulting from the present system's abuses cannot be tolerated for long. Its effect on the business community will become startling within the next two or three years.
High Benefits-High Utilization. The high benefits recommended by the National Commission also have resulted in substantially increased utilization of the benefits. This is an axiom proven correct to workers compensation just as it has in other social benefit systems where levels of benefits have rapidly increased.
A recent report by the House Ways and Means Committee stresses that the unexpected deficits in the Social Security Disability Trust Fund are directly a factor of the increased utilization of that social insurance system because of the high benefit levels provided. It should come as no surprise, as workers compensation benefit levels increased, that more claims would be filed and the duration of disabilities would lengthen measurably.
We must remember workers compensation benefits are free of taxes. As benefit levels approach wages, incentive for work diminishes. Also, we live in a society in which more than one member of many households is working. If an industrially disabled wage earner is drawing workers compensation benefits approaching his losses in wages, the total household spendable income is likely to exceed what it was prior to the injury.
The high benefit level in workers
26 MASONRY/MARCH, 1980