NCCI Report on Older Workers

NCCI has released a new study on the impact of older workers on the work comp system. The long term impact is still uncertain as more workers defer retirement due to economic downturn and resulting loss on individual retirement imvestments.

For review and analysis of the report by our friend Jon Coppelman, take a look at the Workers' Comp Insider.

Post-Holiday Surge in Disability Claims

The Well column of the New York Times posted a review of a recent study by The Hartford insurance company on the seasonality of illness and injury: low incidence of injury for the holidays and spiking rates in January and February.

Merry Christmas everybody. I'm feeling too good to write anything else. See you in January when the depression sets in. TomL

Healthiest and Unhealthiest States

Forbes.com posted a review of the results of the annual report of the nonprofit, United Health Foundation. Its survey covers 22 factors for determining the which are the healthiest states. Smoking, obesity, cancer, diabetes, childhood vaccination rate, infant mortality are all included in a composite ranking.

Oklahoma ranks 49th, just ahead of Mississippi. In 2008 we were 50th, just behind Mississippi. In 1990 we were 31st. Why the precipitous drop? Comorbidities are never mentioned in the discussions of loss-cost control. Isn't it time to take a deeper look at the cost problem?

Prior posting that mentions comorbidities: A Fool's Gambit.

Our Aging Workforce

Aging America: The Iceberg Dead Ahead by Tom Lynch, founder of LynchRyan, Inc., is a remarkable article on the potential impact of older workers on the workers' compensation system. Baby boomers are reaching retirement age but 50% will defer retirement for a variety of reasons: global economic meltdown, rising health costs, inadequate social security and Medicare systems.

Generally the higher cost of treating injuries to older workers is offset by their lower accident frequency. However, the data does not consider the growing proportion of aging workers. Lynch predicts losses will rise significantly due to Boomer injuries, driving up employer premiums.

Good read for the weekend.

Swine Flu and Workers' Comp

The World Health Organization raised the alert for the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak to Level 5, pandemic imminent.

The workers' compensation implications for exposure to the infection were discussed Monday in a post by the Workers' Comp Insider.  Mild cases won't lead to claim liability, but what about prolonged illnesses or death? The Insider posted a list of useful resources under the title: Swine Flu part 2 - links to helpful resources for employers.

No appellate cases involving compensability of flu-related illnesses are reported by the COCA or the Oklahoma Supreme Court. However, swine influenza is a viral disease, and benefits for hepatitis, also a viral disease, have been awarded. Wheaton v. City of Tulsa Fire Department, 1998 OK CIV APP 155, 970 P.2d 194. Analysis of the evidentiary requirements is discussed in Deaconess Hospital v. Ledbetter, 2002 OK CIV APP 29, 41 P.3d 1050.

This disease has the potential to spread exponentially. You can tracking the incidence of reported cases in Oklahoma (and Texas because of its proximity to Mexico) on Google Maps.