Three years after one of the Legislature’s periodic reforms of California’s system of compensating workers for job-related injuries and illnesses, costs to employers are climbing, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau says in a new report.
The 2012 reform, negotiated by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders with employers and labor unions, was aimed at curbing rising medical costs by tightening treatment oversight.
Those reforms have saved billions of dollars, the WCIRB report says, but total medical costs have continued to increase, with the average medical benefit per claim 90 percent above the national median.
Changes in medical care protocols have been a source of political friction ever since the reform bill was passed over the objections of medical providers and attorneys who represent injured workers.
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