You hired an attorney for his legal expertise and experience in handling work comp claims.
You will be paying your attorney a very large chunk of any settlement you get.
Therefore, you need to make an appointment and go sit down with him and ask him your questions.
Can you change lawyers? Yes. You will still have to pay this one for the work he has done on your case. When you go meet with him, you can ask him about what is required to change attorneys and about how much you would have to pay this attorney.
Keep in mind, the settlement offer is based on your injury and the facts of the case. Changing attorneys does not guarantee you will get paid what you want nor does it guarantee you will get a bigger offer.
You are probly correct that other health insurance will not cover your pre-existing condition. And, if possible you want the workers comp insurance to cover any future medical conditions in regard to your injuries.
Your attorney probly wants you just to take a big financial settlement and be done so he can get his big fat check. I am pretty sure the law only allows him to take a certain percentage of your check but the larger the amount, the larger his check. So, he only cares about the dollar amount and not your health care.
It may be better to take a lower amount and ask for all future treatment to be covered under the workers comp. Only you know your injury and if you need that kind of coverage or not.
Bottom line here is you need to do what is best for you and not your attorney. It would not hurt to consult with another attorney.
~~If your private medical insurance knows or ever finds out you have a WC injury, then know they will not cover it. They will tell you to cover it, because you would have received future medical benefits in your settlement. I am confused on one part, they usually require you to be permanent and stationary (meaning no further treatment can benefit you), before they can even offer a settlement. If you need further treatment, then you sure aren’t P&S
The amount allowed for your settlement is done by a state chart of body loss. So your attorney, if he is doing a fair job, would send in your records from you WC doc as well as the one you saw as the QME, to a private company which assesses your amount of disability, age, and future work ability. It’s a complex formula.
I know of a great attorney in the I.E., but I don’t have a clue where you live. Let me know your area (you can email me through yahoo), and I’ll be glad to recommend someone if I know of any good ones in your area.
Do not sign anything until you are 100 percent satisfied with the settlement. Once you settle, you are releasing the WC carrier of any future liability!~~
This is what you need to consider.
What is your current permanent partial disability (PPD)? Are you vocational rehab eligible (VR)? Can you return back to work doing normal job duties? Are you going to be able to survive w/o work comp on your side paying for your check ups? These are outside of the box questions you need to answer.
1. If you claim is already accepted even with the pre-existing injury than they can’t really go back and deny it unless some medical evidence shows up. Basically what will happen is that your doctor will rate your injury and list an apportionment. For instance if your back was 10% rated PPD and you have apportionment of 2% being pre-existing than you’ll have 8% PPD to go with it.
2. The amount is really up to you. Don’t demand a million because it’s just a total waste of time. If you told me you wanted a million bucks I’ll shove $5,000 to you and you’ll realize that a million is a bit too much. Consider this:
-If you are VR eligible and you want to go back to school and learn new stuff, like reviewing medical bills for the next 2 years than you can shave off about $5000-$20,000* off your settlement. If you don’t want to go back to school than ideally you’ll want $10,000.
-Are you willing to toss aside life time medical? If you do, and because you’ll need surgery later, than you’ll need to think how much the cost of surgery will be, in this case you can add $45,000 depending on what surgery is needed. Also what you’ll need to consider is, therapy, Rx, travel, appointments and consults.
3. You need to talk with your lawyer and stress your ideas. If you want life time medicals and keep the claim open for life than you’ll need to tell them that this is what you want and your willing to close the close future indemnity if you want. By closing future indemnity you’ll no longer be paid off work, no longer VR elgible, can’t reopen indemnity again. Your lawyer might just want money now, thus the reason why they are asking you to settle now.Your lawyer should be working for you, you hired him.
I don’t know what the injury is, how far the claim is and what if any PPD was reviewed. So giving you a settlement evaluation could be tough w/o all the info that is needed. But feel free to dangle $$200,000 to see what the insurance company will see, if they come back with a offer of $75,000 than you know what your range is.
Be prepared to think that you’ll take less money in order to keep your medicals open. By doing this you won’t have to pay for surgery out of your own pocket and all the other benefits. Nothing wrong with keeping medicals open. People do this all the time. They don’t want to pay for Rx.
Each state is different with medical rules so you’ll need to talk with your attorney whether you like him or not. Also contact the ombudsmans office of the CA work comp department and ask them if CA allows life time medical benefits on work comp claims. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
Good luck, happy healing
*Depends on what program you chose.
Your lawyer should give you the limit.
If he’s not on your side, fire him.
You don’t get “pain & suffering” from workers comp. It’s strictly lost wages, and medical – AND, every state LIMITS the length of time the company is on the hook for medical and lost wages. Some, it’s as few as two years. You need to ask your lawyer what the limit is in CA.
Most states, your health insurer is required to ask reimbursement for medical costs, from the workers comp carrier, or your settlement.
You need to ask your lawyer, WHY your health carrier isn’t going to expect reimbursement – and have him put the answer in WRITING.
1. In most states, a health insurer can deny paying for a claim that is compensable by workers comp.
2. The amount of the settlement, and the amount of lost wages, including future lost wages until 65, considering your age, and how much the disability affects your future earnings. There is no pain & suffering with workers comp.
3. Call your local bar association, or ask some friends. Clearly, you have no faith at all in this clown – possibly justified, as he’s not answering your questions.
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:06 pm
You hired an attorney for his legal expertise and experience in handling work comp claims.
You will be paying your attorney a very large chunk of any settlement you get.
Therefore, you need to make an appointment and go sit down with him and ask him your questions.
Can you change lawyers? Yes. You will still have to pay this one for the work he has done on your case. When you go meet with him, you can ask him about what is required to change attorneys and about how much you would have to pay this attorney.
Keep in mind, the settlement offer is based on your injury and the facts of the case. Changing attorneys does not guarantee you will get paid what you want nor does it guarantee you will get a bigger offer.
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:06 pm
There is no “life time medical.”
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:52 pm
You are probly correct that other health insurance will not cover your pre-existing condition. And, if possible you want the workers comp insurance to cover any future medical conditions in regard to your injuries.
Your attorney probly wants you just to take a big financial settlement and be done so he can get his big fat check. I am pretty sure the law only allows him to take a certain percentage of your check but the larger the amount, the larger his check. So, he only cares about the dollar amount and not your health care.
It may be better to take a lower amount and ask for all future treatment to be covered under the workers comp. Only you know your injury and if you need that kind of coverage or not.
Bottom line here is you need to do what is best for you and not your attorney. It would not hurt to consult with another attorney.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:21 pm
~~If your private medical insurance knows or ever finds out you have a WC injury, then know they will not cover it. They will tell you to cover it, because you would have received future medical benefits in your settlement. I am confused on one part, they usually require you to be permanent and stationary (meaning no further treatment can benefit you), before they can even offer a settlement. If you need further treatment, then you sure aren’t P&S
The amount allowed for your settlement is done by a state chart of body loss. So your attorney, if he is doing a fair job, would send in your records from you WC doc as well as the one you saw as the QME, to a private company which assesses your amount of disability, age, and future work ability. It’s a complex formula.
I know of a great attorney in the I.E., but I don’t have a clue where you live. Let me know your area (you can email me through yahoo), and I’ll be glad to recommend someone if I know of any good ones in your area.
Do not sign anything until you are 100 percent satisfied with the settlement. Once you settle, you are releasing the WC carrier of any future liability!~~
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:49 pm
This is what you need to consider.
What is your current permanent partial disability (PPD)? Are you vocational rehab eligible (VR)? Can you return back to work doing normal job duties? Are you going to be able to survive w/o work comp on your side paying for your check ups? These are outside of the box questions you need to answer.
1. If you claim is already accepted even with the pre-existing injury than they can’t really go back and deny it unless some medical evidence shows up. Basically what will happen is that your doctor will rate your injury and list an apportionment. For instance if your back was 10% rated PPD and you have apportionment of 2% being pre-existing than you’ll have 8% PPD to go with it.
2. The amount is really up to you. Don’t demand a million because it’s just a total waste of time. If you told me you wanted a million bucks I’ll shove $5,000 to you and you’ll realize that a million is a bit too much. Consider this:
-If you are VR eligible and you want to go back to school and learn new stuff, like reviewing medical bills for the next 2 years than you can shave off about $5000-$20,000* off your settlement. If you don’t want to go back to school than ideally you’ll want $10,000.
-Are you willing to toss aside life time medical? If you do, and because you’ll need surgery later, than you’ll need to think how much the cost of surgery will be, in this case you can add $45,000 depending on what surgery is needed. Also what you’ll need to consider is, therapy, Rx, travel, appointments and consults.
3. You need to talk with your lawyer and stress your ideas. If you want life time medicals and keep the claim open for life than you’ll need to tell them that this is what you want and your willing to close the close future indemnity if you want. By closing future indemnity you’ll no longer be paid off work, no longer VR elgible, can’t reopen indemnity again. Your lawyer might just want money now, thus the reason why they are asking you to settle now.Your lawyer should be working for you, you hired him.
I don’t know what the injury is, how far the claim is and what if any PPD was reviewed. So giving you a settlement evaluation could be tough w/o all the info that is needed. But feel free to dangle $$200,000 to see what the insurance company will see, if they come back with a offer of $75,000 than you know what your range is.
Be prepared to think that you’ll take less money in order to keep your medicals open. By doing this you won’t have to pay for surgery out of your own pocket and all the other benefits. Nothing wrong with keeping medicals open. People do this all the time. They don’t want to pay for Rx.
Each state is different with medical rules so you’ll need to talk with your attorney whether you like him or not. Also contact the ombudsmans office of the CA work comp department and ask them if CA allows life time medical benefits on work comp claims. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
Good luck, happy healing
*Depends on what program you chose.
February 24th, 2010 at 12:25 am
Your lawyer should give you the limit.
If he’s not on your side, fire him.
You don’t get “pain & suffering” from workers comp. It’s strictly lost wages, and medical – AND, every state LIMITS the length of time the company is on the hook for medical and lost wages. Some, it’s as few as two years. You need to ask your lawyer what the limit is in CA.
Most states, your health insurer is required to ask reimbursement for medical costs, from the workers comp carrier, or your settlement.
You need to ask your lawyer, WHY your health carrier isn’t going to expect reimbursement – and have him put the answer in WRITING.
1. In most states, a health insurer can deny paying for a claim that is compensable by workers comp.
2. The amount of the settlement, and the amount of lost wages, including future lost wages until 65, considering your age, and how much the disability affects your future earnings. There is no pain & suffering with workers comp.
3. Call your local bar association, or ask some friends. Clearly, you have no faith at all in this clown – possibly justified, as he’s not answering your questions.