News roundup: Health Wonk Review, WC recovery, fatalities, joint & several, AIG and web tools

August 21st, 2009 by Julie Ferguson

Things are sure getting ugly out there in the national debate on health policy. Read what the health policy wonks in the blogosphere have to say about all this – a fresh Health Wonk Review is posted over at David Williams Health Business Blog.
The recovery and WC – Joe Paduda offers an excellent analysis of the likely impact of economic recovery on various segments of the workers comp industry in his post The recovery is coming – what does that mean for work comp? He offers a word of caution for employers: as hiring increases, so too will injuries. “The good folks at the NCCI have looked at the impact of economic recoveries on workers comp, finding “Job creation is related to an increase in the proportion of workers who are inexperienced in their current job and, hence, more likely to sustain a workplace injury.”
Work fatalities down, suicides up – The good news: “A total of 5,071 fatal work injuries were recorded in the U.S. in 2008, down about 10 percent from a total of 5,657 fatal work injuries reported for 2007, according to preliminary government figures.” However, some of the drop is attributed to the economy and a decline in the number of hours worked. Researchers also think that numbers may be lagging since budget constraints at reporting agencies may have delayed classifying cases. One of the most troubling parts of the report is that workplace suicides were up 28 percent to a series high of 251 cases in 2008 – “…the highest number ever reported by the fatality census. Suicides among protective service occupations rose from 14 in 2007 to 25 in 2008.” Read more about the report in Insurance Journal’s story, Fatal Work Injuries Dropped 10% in 2008; Down 20% in Construction.
Joint and Several Liability in action – Roberto Ceniceros blogs about the hefty bills that some New York employers are facing after the demise of self-insured trusts (aka SIGs) in his post Self insuring comp claims has its risks. About 1,789 will be footing about $133 million in unfunded workers comp claims – an average of about $74,000 per employer.
AIG wins one – An NCCI suit alleging that AIG has been shortchanging state workers comp pools for 35 years was dismissed by a federal judge yesterday, but the suit was dismissed on a legal technicality, with no ruling on the actual charges.
Web tools – here are a few good web tools we’ve come across in our travels:
Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need – a guide to some specialty search engines
Wordnik – An ongoing project devoted to discovering all the words and everything about them. We’re liking this, and also recommend our long-term favorite word tool, OneLook.
Meeting ticker – log the number of attendees, enter the average hourly rate, and start your engines. You’ll be surprised to learn how much meetings cost!
ParkWhiz – find and reserve parking before you get there. Enter a date, time & address and get nearby parking garages, rate comparisons, and distance from your destination.
Down for everyone of just me? – enter the address of a website to see if the site is having a widespread problem or if the problem with the page is on your end. It’s surprisingly useful!

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