Is Workers’ Compensation Still Meeting It's Original Goals? Do we need to rethink them?

By Kristen Chavez (CEO and President of www.workcompcentral.com)

When Workers’ Compensation came about at the turn of the twentieth century, it was designed to serve two main goals, provide wage replacement and medical benefits.

We were a different Nation at that time. Working conditions were less then optimal. The makeup of our workforce was very different as compared to today. 38% of the labor force worked on farms. The urbanization of our Country during the early 1900s brought about a sharp increase in industrial and factory production. Workers were literally being worked to death in factories.

In 1913, 25,000 people were killed on the job and 700,000 seriously injured out of a population of 100 million.

The US population was young, more than half of the population were 25 years old or younger. Compared to one third of our population today. At the turn of the century, 5% of our population was 65 or older, compared to 14% today.

Today, only 13.6% of our workforce are considered to be in a position as a manual laborer. According to the US Census, people 18 to 44 years of age make up 36% of our population.

So, manual labor is decreasing, our median age in the workforce is increasing and we have more than 100 years of history with a Workers’ Compensation system in place.

Additionally, as a Nation, we are plagued with health issues. Comorbidity's, such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes and heart disease impact millions. According to the Centers for Disease Control 100 million Americans report they are experiencing chronic pain.

In 2018, roughly 5,100 individuals lost their lives on the job and 4.7 million sustained work injuries out of a population of 327.2 million.

Are the basic goals of wage replacement and medical benefits still sufficient? Or, should we start thinking about adjusting our approach to be much more holistic.

In today’s world, the injury represents only a small portion of the whole person. That individual is dealing with a myriad of other health and personal issues. The likelihood the injured worker has a chronic health issue, while having financial issues and a troubled child is high. These issues will impact their recovery from the work injury.

For years, we have ignored any issues not related to the work injury. I feel we are doing ourselves and the injured worker a disservice by doing so. It does not mean we need to pick up the cost of treating conditions not related to the job, but it does not mean we should ignore them either. It could be much more effective at the time of the injury to discuss these outside issues constructively, provide the injured worker with helpful resources and surprise them with solutions that make a difference.

I look forward to seeing each of you at Comp Laude® to discuss how we can, together, make a difference for injured workers and our industry.