Administration Says Disabled Workers Are Returning Sooner To Jobs By Aaron C. Davis, Associated Press Writer - February 1, 2007SACRAMENTO (AP) _ Employees who sustained permanent disabilities have returned to work at a higher rate under workers' compensation reforms Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed through shortly after taking office, his administration said Wednesday.
The percentage of permanently disabled workers employed about a year after they were injured increased from 64.6 percent to 70 percent in the first half of 2005, according to a report by the state Division of Workers' Compensation.
"People are returning to work at a higher rate, and the governor feels that's happened because they've been able to get adequate and quick medical attention," said Darrel Ng, a Schwarzenegger spokesman.
However, a highly anticipated study looking at whether permanently disabled workers are receiving fewer benefits since the reforms will not be available until March, administration officials said.
Even that study, they acknowledged, will not be an exhaustive look at the issue. A full wage-loss study will not be available until late 2008, even though Schwarzenegger said the review would be done last year.
Some Democrats blasted the delay, saying there already is ample evidence the reforms have cut benefits to the most severely injured workers in the state.
"We already have enough data showing that permanently disabled workers are not getting their fair share of workers' compensation benefits," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, in a statement.
Lawmakers passed workers' compensation changes in 2003 and 2004 in response to skyrocketing claims that boosted the cost of workers' compensation insurance as high as 300 percent in some instances.
The changes included limits on the amounts doctors, pharmacies and clinics could charge to treat workers' compensation patients. They also set new treatment guidelines and regulations that critics say resulted in a sharp reduction in benefits for many disabled workers.
Schwarzenegger has called the changes a huge success, saying they have cut insurance rates by 40 percent. He also said the overhaul has resulted in more accurate diagnoses and prevented patients from exploiting the system.
Last year, however, a state board of employer and worker representatives concluded the reforms had slashed disabled workers' benefits by more than 50 percent.
In September Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation by Perata to double benefits for the newly disabled. The governor said the change would have undercut the previous reforms. On Wednesday, Perata vowed to put a similar bill on the governor's desk this year.
"I'm coming back with another bill, and I hope he'll agree it's time to quit studying this to death and act," Perata said in a statement.
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