News Intelligence Analysis
Governor Arnold Punches Workers’
Compensation into a Limp Blob
By Katherine Yurica
Californians always knew that Arnold Schwarzenegger
had muscles. They just hadn’t anticipated where the Governor
was going to use his power. No one can forget how he shouted,
“I’m going to be the people’s governor.”
That’s why so many good, honest workers voted for him. As
it turns out, before his election Arnold promised, “I will
take steps to help
injured workers to get the care they need, while ending the
incentives and loopholes that encourage unscrupulous lawyers
and providers to game the system.”
Who wouldn’t want to attack the “unscrupulous”
and the “providers” that “game the system”?
Alas, the new Governor’s proposed Workmen’s Compensation
bill does just the opposite: it stomps on the workers making
it almost impossible for them to get compensation for workplace
injuries and adequate medical care, and hands over the keys to
California’s bank vault to the insurers.
You see, the “unscrupulous” according
to Arnold aren’t the powerful moneyed interests and their
teams of big corporate lawyers. And those “gaming the system”
aren’t those companies that force prices up through artificial
means. No. In his own words, Arnold told us, “The only people
who are sure to benefit…are
the unscrupulous medical providers [read that to mean your
doctor], lawyers [your lawyer], and un-entitled claimants [read
that as you and your co-workers if you get injured on the job]
who have learned to game the system at the expense of California’s
employees and employers.”
Governor Schwarzenegger still believes what
he said before his election. The true cause of runaway costs
is you and your co-workers. He says California workers are the
cause of “runaway costs.” How? Arnold answered in his
clipped Teutonic English, “Excessive
utilization of medical care.” It means folks in
California seek medical help too often. The “people’s
governor” said: “Over-utilization
of medical services, not higher prices, is driving the workers’
compensation medical cost crisis.” People in other
states, the new governor said have the decency not to go to doctors
as often in order to get well!
Compare the Governor’s approach to
California’s Constitution, (Article 14, § 4) which
grants every injured worker full medical treatment to be cured
and relieved from on-the-job injuries.
Dr. Governor believes California workers
have too great an incidence of “partial
permanent disability.” His solution is to redefine “permanent
disability.” He also proposes to allow employers to force
alternative dispute resolution systems upon injured workers that
deny the right to counsel for employees who lack collective bargaining
rights.
So in order to “help” the injured
workers, Governor Schwarzenegger rolled out his new psychological
jump-through-the-hoops-torture test to discourage injured workers
from even applying for Workmen’s Compensation.
Here’s the proof of a fabulous twisted
mind in action: Existing California law provides that when payment
has been unreasonably delayed or refused to a worker, the full
amount of the order, decision, or award shall be increased by
ten percent plus attorney’s fees. But the crafty Governor’s
bill would repeal that section and instead would encourage unreasonable
delays and refusals of compensation by allowing miniscule penalties
(reducing the maximum
penalty for unreasonably delaying or refusing payment to
a worker to any percentage point or fraction thereof, up to a
maximum of 15% or to a mere $500 penalty, whichever is greater
with no attorney fees provided.) Oh, he has his vays.
The people’s Governor also wants to
eliminate civil remedies
for employment discrimination and protections against retaliation
for filing a workers’ compensation claim. He also wants
to repeal safety programs aimed at reducing injuries and cutting
costs.
Herr Doktor Governor’s bill eliminates
any ability for a worker to
select or change his or her physician. The injured worker
is left at the mercy of the “company” doctor.
Herr Doktor Arnold proposes to deny the
injured worker due process and a hearing under oath within thirty
days to resolve medical disputes; instead Herr Doktor creates
an “Independent”
Medical Review process using anonymous providers dependent
on carriers and employers for their fees and who would never
see or examine the injured worker.
It would be unfair to mention how Herr Governor
promised never to take money from “special interests”
at this point. Wouldn’t it? According to Arnold the
$100,000 gift donation handed him in the early part of November,
2003 from the American International Group, Inc., (a major insurance
firm that writes workers’ compensation policies in California),
had nothing to do with the Governor’s policy decision to
assist insurers to even higher profits. But Mr. Schwarzenegger
had already passionately pleaded for the plight of the hapless
insurers even before the election. He said, “Insurers
and employers who self-insure in California are being hit hard
by runaway costs…California insurers are
suffering huge losses, and some have even gone out of business.”
Tender hearts all over California skewed
their feelings into knots over the dreadful state of huge corporate
entities and voted for him. But some grew wiser faster than most
of us and said: “Mr. Governor, when we follow the
money, and look at the latest third quarter 2003 reported figures,
the bottom line reveals that insurers have been enjoying huge profits
not ‘huge losses’”:
|
Zenith Insurance Co. |
200% increase in profits |
|
American Financial Group |
600% increase in profits |
|
The Chubb Corporation |
330% increase in net income |
|
St. Paul Companies |
225% increase in profits |
|
The Everest Re Group |
89.9% increase in net income |
|
American Insurance Group |
27% increase in profits |
Alas, any new governor can make a teeny
tiny little ‘ole mistake like that.
In 1712 Sir Richard Blackmore devoted a
passage of his philosophical poem on Creation to the kind of
treachery being examined today. I’ve paraphrased it—just
a mite—I’m sure he won’t mind:
Schwarzenegger next, to hide his black design,
And to his side the unwary to incline,
“For the People” his banner displays,
Declares for Worker’s Compensation
while he that Worker’s Compensation betrays:
For whom he’s pleased such evidence
to bring,
As saves the Name, while it subverts the
Thing.
Katherine Yurica was educated at East Los
Angeles College, U.S.C. and the USC school of law. She worked
as a consultant for Los Angeles County and as a news correspondent
for Christianity Today plus as a freelance investigative
reporter. She is the author of three books. She is also the publisher
of the Yurica Report.
Send
a letter
to the editor
about
this article
For
related articles
and documents
on
Workers' Comp
go to the "California Under
the GOP" page.
For
related articles on the
Medicare Bill,
which destroys workers'
Medicare protection, go to
the Yurica Report Home Page
index under Winter of
Our Discontent
Do you want to know
how
to detect evil? Buy these
books:
We give Scott Peck’s
book, The
People of the Lie, a five star rating. It teaches the
reader how to detect evil. If you haven’t read it--read
it now. Give it as a gift. Scott Peck tries to find a way to
heal human evil. The book is really a journey through his cases
as a psychiatrist where he encountered an inexplicable disease
that only human love can reach, but which repells the love that
seeks to heal it. It’s frightening as he shows how ordinary
and common place evil is. It sits in our churches on the pews
where upright citizens hide behind a mask of piety. It pours
from mouths that lie without constraint. Scott Peck’s book
was written for today’s world. It helps us to understand
why we are catching glimpses of a dark age that could engulf
us.
The
Lost Book of Wisdom by K.V. Yurica is a book we’re
prejudiced about. (The publisher of this web site is the author.)
It’s a book that’s off the main stream scale of measuring
things. Most Americans won’t like it unless they’re
into literature, poetry, and the excitement of discovering an
ancient world where seers explained how to discover a lie, how
to know a true prophet from a false one. It’s on ancient
science, on knowledge, logic and investigation. It talks about
fools, evil and transcendence. It was written long before George
W. Bush entered the White House, but it discusses psychological
and emotional health as opposed to the Machiavellian rule of
today. We think some of you will love it--especially those acquainted
with Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet.
If you prefer making your purchases through
the web’s largest book store, we’ve anticipated your
need and have prepared this link to the home page of Amazon.com.
If you have the time and a good eye for bargains, you’ll
find them there, in the middle of Amazon’s quaint clutter.
One can almost smell the dust trying to settle down after the
swish and swosh of the fast paced deals. Just click on the little
ad below and you’ll be there in a moment. Then type in the
title of this book in the little search box. Click on Go and
walla!
What Every
Thinking American Should Know About the Neo Conns
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
Yet it requires knowledge and constancy. We recommend that you
add these books to your library on the theory that we must
know our enemies. We must know why Machiavelli's teachings
threaten America's democracy and freedom. Ask yourself, "How
can people vote intelligently on issues based upon false information?"
Lies attack the heart of a democratic society. But where do the
ideas that fuel a "win at any cost" ideology come from?
Why has the political scene turned so brutally vicious? Why are
men who question the reason for the war in Iraq being called
"traitors" and worse? Understand that a radical nationalistic
group reveres Machiavelli. Know why you must oppose Machiavellian
methods with every fiber in your being.
As we pointed out above, Leo Strauss
taught at the University of Chicago and had
an enormous influence on the future Neo Conservatives like Paul
Wolfovitz and
other members of the Bush administration. It may be shocking
to learn that
Machiavelli is admired rather than scorned by men holding power
in the White
House. Find out what their teacher says about Machiavelli.
Michael Ledeen, Machiavelli
on Modern Leadership, for
Trade
Paperbackclick here or on the cover. Ledeen is a prominent
neo
conservative who works at one of the Republican "think tanks."
He is
and has influenced the policies of the Bush administration. Read
his
books to gain insight into what is happening to America.
Back to The Yurica Report Home Page