Most people don’t know what Workers’ Compensation is until they or a loved one get hurt at work, and if they live or work in Michigan, they soon realize that their ability to feed their family is in jeopardy.
When you get hurt at work, many folks think that they can sue their employer for negligence, but when Michigan enacted its workers’ compensation law, it took away an employee’s Constitutional right to sue their employer for negligence. In return, workers don’t have to prove that their employer was at fault in causing their injury. Companies no longer have to worry about paying out a million dollar judgement to an injured employee. At one time it was a win-win situation for the worker and the employer.
Not long ago, a worker only needed to prove that they got hurt at work, and if their doctor told them not to go back to work, then they had a right to wage loss benefits and their medical expenses would be covered. Over the last few years, the rights afforded to Michigan workers have been gutted so much, that the recourse for an injured worker is to go back to work or starve.
In 2011, Governor Rick Snyder passed amendments to the Workers’ Compensation law, which served only to gut workers rights and to help the insurance companies deny claims. One of the most atrocious amendments was to sever your relationship with your doctor after you are injured.
One of the Snyder amendments keeps you from seeing your doctor for 28 days after you are hurt at work. When you get hurt, the insurance company gets to dictate which (if any) doctors you see and what treatment you receive. If you want to see your own doctor, the claim is denied. THIS IS HAPPENING!
Provided Governor Snyder is re-elected, he will pass more laws to prevent you from getting the treatment your doctor recommends. The administration refers to it as “Evidence Based Medicine”, which basically means that a doctor can only provide you with treatment as outlined in the new law.
If your doctor wants to perform a surgery which isn’t listed in the law or deviates from the sequence of treatment, then you go untreated. Evidence Based Medicine is code for “you only get the treatment Governor Snyder says you get” or “the politicians know what’s best for you—not your doctor.”
The Snyder amendments have boosted insurance company rights to the drastic detriment of workers and their families, so choose your politicians wisely in November.
Gabe Cameron
Gabe Cameron
