General

In Illinois there has been a relatively recent change in the Workers’ Compensation law that protects the injured worker who has unpaid medical bills.

You must file a claim with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission and let the medical provider know you have filed the claim. Once the provider is notified of the claim they are supposed to stop collection efforts until the case is resolved. The provider is allowed to request updates regarding the status of the claim.

This change in the law provides important protections for the injured worker, especially in disputed cases. It keeps off the pressure of the bill collector, and allows you to focus on recovering from your injury.

If you are receiving medical bills and Workers Compensation is not paying the bills, you should contact a Workers’ Compensation lawyer immediately.

If you have work injury in Illinois, and are not being paid you must file a request for hearing before the arbitrator in your venue ( area where you were injured and where the case is assigned). Since the injured worker has to prove every thing in the case, you must have a doctor’s statement indicating the work accident and your current condition keeping you off work is related. Often the insurance company lawyer will require a deposition of the doctor. A deposition is simply a meeting with a doctor where your lawyer and the insurance company lawyer ask the doctor questions and the answers are transcribed on paper.

This usually takes several months due to the doctor’s scheduling requirements. Once the deposition is taken a trial can usually take place within a short period of time.

The key is to notify your Workers Compensation attorney as soon as possible that you are not being paid. This will allow the meetings with your doctor to be scheduled without delay.

Disability may, of course, come in the form of physical or mental limitations.

In order to prove that a child is disabled for purposes of Social Security, you will have to provide medical records detailing the physical problems the child experiences. It is also helpful to a Doctor’s report detailing the limitations the child suffers. If the child is in school, an individual education plan (IEP) is also important and helpful. Teacher letters may also assist. The reports and letters should address the 6 areas we covered in the last post.

If the child has emotional and mental health problems, psychiatric and counseling records will be needed. A report from a psychiatrist is often helpful. Once again the IEP is important. Report cards, discipline records and attendance records may contain helpful information. If there is disturbing behavior such as violence, torture of animals, destruction of property this should be documented through letters, live testimony, police reports, or journals.

It is important to remember that for purposes of Social Security a combination of factors may make a person disabled. Therefore, it is important to include all the relevant records and evidence to address the 6 areas of concern.

Last time I discussed how to decide if your offer was good enough. This time I want to explain how an arbitrator (Judge) determines benefits for your injury.

In Illinois, benefits are based on your wage. This means if you work at a minimum wage job and the person across the street who makes $50,000 a year has the same injury as you, you will receive a much smaller settlement.

The arbitrator takes your average weekly wage (based on the 52 weeks before your injury date) times 60 percent times a certain number of weeks. For example, in Illinois a hand is worth 205 weeks. If the arbitrator decides the injury is worth 10 percent of the hand, you will receive 20.5 weeks.

In Illinois Workers’ Compensation law, there is no schedule describing a certain number of weeks for each type of injury. The arbitrator decides based on a trend of cases over time involving similar treatments and restrictions.

When deciding whether a child is disabled Social Security looks at 6 areas.

1. Acquiring and using information.

2. Attending and completing tasks.

3. Interacting and relating with others.

4. Moving about and manipulating objects.

5. Caring for self.

6. Health and physical well-being.

To be considered disabled, the child must have “marked” limitations in 2 of the areas, or “extreme” limitation in one area.

Next time I will discuss what kind of proof is needed to address these areas.