Posted by T. Urtle on March 16, 1999 at 22:31:40:
In Reply to: Re: Reply to Tom Mattis posted by Del on March 12, 1999 at 23:06:09:
I disagree with several points listed in your diatribe. We would not have an Oregon Health Plan unless our legislators took the time to determine why the current system was obsolete and out-moded. Surely, you are not suggesting that we should continue to fund bureaucratic units that aren't providing a meaningful service?
You need to understand that the evaluations unit does not evaluate how fair or just a closure is. You're barking up the wrong tree. The appeallate unit evaluates closures when a worker requests reconsideration and they have the power to set aside or modify an improper closure. This is a seperate unit of DCBS and is not affected by SB220. To state otherwise, is providing misinformation to people on this site and may lead to dangerous assumptions by workers when their claim is closed.
The reconsideration process takes 45-60 days even with a medical arbiter examination. However, if the insurance carrier improperly closed the claim, the appellate evalutor is required by law to issue a reconsideration order within 18 days and withdraw the closure. This is hardly an interminable long process when you consider that most benefits stop at claim closure and payments for impairment begin 30 days after claim closure. Are you attempting to discourage worker's from requesting reconsidertion with your sarcasm? Think about it!
You're mistaken again when you accuse insurers of failing to notify injured workers of their reconsideration rights. Every notice of closure is required by law to be sent to an injured worker by regular and certified mail. The reconsideration rights are printed in large, bold letters on the notice of closure. They include the time lines associated with an appeal of the closure and provide an address to send the appeal to. If insurance carriers were doing such a bad job at closing claims and rating PPD, don't you think more workers would take advantage of this free process, (reconsidertion)? Ernie, nobody is hiding the process from workers and I wish that you would research the process before providing inaccurate and damaging misinformation.
Let's work together to make a better system for injured workers and quit denigrating those who disagree with our positions!