MADISON – One day after launching the Worker’s Compensation Employers Coalition, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) released a short video detailing the high costs businesses face because of worker’s compensation claims. WMC Board Chairman Bob Kamphuis – Chairman, CEO & President of Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) – says in the video that worker’s compensation costs are nearly double that of Michigan, another state that MEC has facilities in.
According to the Worker’s Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), Wisconsin has some of the highest medical costs for worker’s compensation in the nation. In the most recent year they studied, WCRI found Wisconsin costs to be 47 percent higher than the national median. Looking only at serious injuries that required a week off of work, costs were 60 percent higher than the median.
It’s not just interstate comparisons that are troubling. Worker’s compensation injuries in Wisconsin also cost many times more than identical injuries that are covered by group health insurance. While most states have a slight difference between the two, the difference is striking in Wisconsin, often two to three times more expensive for identical treatments.
“Forty-four states have tackled this problem with a medical fee schedule,” said WMC Director of Health and Human Resources Policy Chris Reader in the video. “Wisconsin could be the next state to do so. Approved unanimously by the Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council, enacting a fee schedule has the support of both employers and organized labor. Now it just needs the support of lawmakers.”
Nearly 50 employer associations have joined WMC in supporting a medical fee schedule to reform Wisconsin’s worker’s compensation laws.
Click here to watch the full video on our YouTube page.
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For more information, contact:
Nick Novak, 608.258.3400
