The 2014 Primary elections are fast approaching and it is important to pay attention to the candidates’ rhetoric regarding their views about what should happen to the working people of Illinois if they are injured at work. Injured workers are now feeling the effects of the 2011 Amendment to the Workers’ Compensation Act.
It is more difficult to receive prescribed medical treatment, permanent partial disability settlements and awards are significantly lower than they were before the Amendment. Yet candidate after candidate spend their time campaigning, promising to take more away from people who are injured.
That person who is injured and needs to receive medical care to return back to gainful employment and benefits to pay the mortgage and feed their children could easily be you. If Illinois is run “like a business” the concerns of the working people will be low in the priority of lawmakers.
The Department of Insurance reports overall savings have reached $315 million since 2011 and with the NCCI’s recommended reduction of 4.5% in premiums for 2014 the advisory level rate for workers’ compensation premiums will have dropped 13.3% below the advisory rate prior to the Amendment.
This is a substantial savings for Illinois’ business. It is not the time for the candidates for Governor to run on a platform of again reducing injured workers’ rights.