Long Island Press Workers Compensation Cover Story

High Costs, Low Benefits: Why New York State has the Worst Workers Compensation in the Nation” is the front page story in the July 14, 2005 edition of the Long Island Press. Accompanying the headline is a picture of an injured worker missing a leg. This is a timely and powerful article, and should be read by anyone who wants to know the inside scoop on how workers compensation insurance companies take advantage of BOTH workers and employers in New York State. One telling fact is the disclosure that workers compensation insurance companies in New York had a profit margin of almost 10% in 2003, and they now have the audacity to request a 16.1% premium increase this year. Bottom Line – its the workers compensation insurance companies who are killing employers and business in New York State.
This article comes on the heals of a heart breaking, yet inspiring, story in Newsday this week about a worker who had both hands amputated by a factory machine, only to have them reattached by some great surgeons at Stony Brook University Hospital. This father of 8 is now struggling to regain the use of his hands while trying to survive on meager New York State workers compensation payments, which have not been raised in 13 years. His caring employer stopped his health insurance for his 8 kids! It really puts a human face on major societal problem – treating injured workers like just another widget.