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1 1 (February 18, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govcaas0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 01;0i E.$~ & gogn, q \pp\qm , goo g , q aS ' X 11LULANJILiN, Updated February 18, 2020 Workers' Compensation: Overview and Issues Nearly all workers and employers in the United States are covered by workers' compensation. When a covered worker is injured, becomes sick, or dies as a result of his or her employment, that worker is entitled to full medical coverage for the injury, cash benefits to replace a portion of wages lost due to inability to work, and benefits for surviving family members in case of death. Employers are responsible for providing workers' compensation benefits to their workers and generally purchase insurance to cover these costs. The federal government has only a limited role in the provision of workers' compensation because most workers are covered by state law. Federal programs cover federal employees, coal workers with black lung disease, longshore and harbor workers, overseas military and public works contractors, and former atomic weapons industry workers. Although every state has a workers' compensation system, there is no federal mandate that states have workers' compensation, no federal standards for state programs, and no oversight of state systems. Table I. Total Workers' Compensation Costs and Benefits, 2017 Per $100 in Billions of $ Covered Payroll Total Benefits 62.0 0.80 Medical Benefits 31.2 31.2 0.40 Cash Benefits 30.8 0.40 Employer Costs 97.4 1.25 Source: Elaine Weiss, Griffin Murphy, and Leslie I. Boden, Workers' Compensation Benefits, Costs, and Coverage-2017 Data, National Academy of Social Insurance, October 2019, p. 2, https://www.nasi.org/research/2019/report-worersE2%80%99- compensation-benefits-costs-coverage-%E2%80%93-2017. Before the first workers' compensation laws were passed by Congress in 1908 and the states in 1911, workers had no alternatives but to sue their employers for reimbursement of costs associated with medical care and lost work due to job- related accidents and illnesses. In addition to the costs of bringing such suits, workers had to demonstrate that their employers, and not any third parties or the workers themselves, were responsible for their injuries. Although employers could often avoid being held liable for employment-related injuries, illnesses, or deaths, employers faced uncertainty in what their costs would be if they lost a case and a single case could, depending on the damages awarded by the court, have a catastrophic financial impact on an employer. Workers' compensation is often referred to as a grand bargain between workers and employers. Under workers' compensation, workers receive benefits for covered injuries, illnesses, and deaths without regard to fault or liability. In exchange for this coverage, employees are prohibited from suing their employers and workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy for workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths. Employers are protected from lawsuits but must pay statutorily defined benefits in all cases. Employers can purchase insurance to mitigate their financial risk and increase cost predictability. ,o p, -makti.. Workers' compensation benefits are set by state law, or in the cases of the limited federal programs, by federal law, and thus differ among programs. However, all systems provide for complete medical coverage, at no cost to the worker, for any treatment of covered injuries and illnesses. Systems differ on the rights of employees to select treatment providers. Approximately 75% of all workers' compensation cases involve only medical benefits with no time lost from work due to injury or illness. In addition, all systems provide for limited wage replacement, usually two-thirds of the pre-injury wage, if an injury or illness prevents an employee from working. For certain permanent partial disabilities, such as the loss of a limb or an eye, a set amount of benefits are paid regardless of ability to work. Survivors benefits are paid to the family members of workers who die on the job and most systems offer vocational rehabilitation to assist employees' return to the workplace. Systems differ in the duration of benefit eligibility, with some systems capping lifetime benefits at a certain amount or number of months, and others paying for the duration of disability or life of the worker. Each state operates its own workers' compensation program and these state programs cover the majority of employees in the United States. The federal government, through the Department of Labor, administers the following workers' compensation programs: * Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) for federal civilian employees; * Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA) for private-sector longshore workers, and through extensions of the LHWCA, overseas government contractors, non-appropriated fund instrumentality workers, and workers on the Outer Continental Shelf; .O 'T

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