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Our congratulations to Assemblywoman, now State Senator Loni Hancock for her successful run on election day for termed out Senator Don Perata's seat from Oakland. You may recall that she was one of the 6 legislators with a conscience, who refused to vote for the passage of SB899 despite the governor's intimidation and threats back in 2004. It's always good for injured workers to have a good friend in the Legislature.

The other five that also held their own and have since been termed out are Senators Richard Alarcon, Joe Dunn & Martha Escutia and Assemblywomen Jackie Goldberg and Hannah Beth Jackson.

How It All Started
The insurance industry and their minions have managed to completely bastardize the Workers' Compensation benefit delivery system of California, as well as, many States across our Country. What we now see is an industry hell bent on allowing injured workers to suffer and sometimes die all in the name of their corporate profits.

Insurance companies and their corporate attorneys are in business to make a profit. As such, they are also in the business of making business profitable. Look around and you will find many examples of corporate fraud in the news, not only across all lines of insurance, but in many other consumer driven businesses as well.

While not every businessman is a crook, some are. There are those who will "fudge" a little, and there are quite a few who will say nothing about it ["Job Security"]; however, there are a select few that will just break the law with impunity in order to improve their financial bottom line.

The news is filled with million dollar "Insurance Fraud" cases within the Workers' Compensation system of California and other states as well, but it is generally employers, providers, vendors, and "insurance related" businesses you will hear about.

Not until this past decade or so have some select "politicians" and "adjudicators" actually called them what they really are. Federal and State Courts, as well as representatives of several State Governments have accurately described the insurance industry as totally corrupted by greedy top-level executives.

As with "privately" purchased insurance policies, individuals have civil Tort Law to compensate them when an "Insurer" has committed fraud [or an "act of bad faith"] against the applicant, claimant, and injured, or disabled person.

However, in the area of work related injuries, the right to bring civil action against an employer or their "Workers' Compensation insurance carrier" has been eliminated. It has been replaced with the infamous, "Exclusive Remedy", a drastically flawed concept of "fairness" given to the employer and worker alike. But, more importantly it is just another part of the 20-year plan; insurers have found it less costly to pay up to $10,000 for immediate medical attention while they work on denying the claim without fear of retribution.

The Exclusive Remedy is best described as a compromise, an agreement if you will, to provide the appropriate and immediate medical care/treatment necessary to "Cure or Relieve", even before the claim is processed. For this empty promise, injured workers have been stripped of their rights to bring suit within the civil court system. And, just who made this compromise; it certainly wasn't the workforce of this State. It was employers, insurers, and your State officials that have brought this system to the sorry state it is in today.

The Exclusive Remedy has become exactly what insurers have wanted all along, a "post-injury" shield to protect them from prosecution for the widespread criminal acts, abuses and fraudulent practices employed to deny, delay, and/or terminate all claims, legitimate or not.

The 20-Year Plan
The goal of this "20-year plan" is simple; strip away the injured workers rights to any and all benefits! But, there are obstacles to every business plan and the ways to overcome these obstacles are not always clear, at first.

The 20-year plan is a euphemism for "How To Keep All The Money". Insurance companies, over two plus decades, have been using a business plan designed to strip injury related cases from the jurisdiction of State and Federal Courts. Many years ago insurance companies started a process whereby they would invest millions in politicians, legislators, and the mainstream media, through political contributions and erroneous, misleading advertising.

Attorneys and Lobbyists for the insurance industry have been very effective and, over time, have managed to make many subtle but significant changes to insurance laws and/or regulations, ultimately allowing insurers to write policies that afford them sole discretionary powers to investigate, interpret, and decide the validity of an injured workers claim. Simply put, to practice medicine without a license or fear of retribution.

Each phase of this 20-year plan has brought with it additional resources the insurer would employ to deny, delay, and eliminate claims, i.e. unscrupulous claim handlers, unethical insurance company doctors, and outside vendors that provide the industry with a wide array of services geared toward reducing or completely terminating all claims made by injured workers.

They've already started test-driving it right here in California. It started with "big insurance" flexing their legislative muscle and forcing the passage of Senate Bill 899 in 2004. If we don't put a stop to it now, it's going to spread like wildfire all over the other 49 states.

SB899 created the "Medical Provider Networks!" Now, when an injured worker goes to the doctor, the primary goal of the doctor is to get repeat business from the employer, not take care of the injuries of the injured worker in an expeditious and humane manner.

SB899 created "Utilization Review," which is nothing but a ploy to delay and deny treatment on a wholesale scale. Claims examiners requesting UR send case after case to these independent physicians with little or no documentation, so the review is doomed to failure from the start!

SB899 removed any meaningful penalties that kept insurers in compliance with the law. Now it's simply cheaper to pay the penalties than it is to comply with the law. And they don't even get a slap on the hand for committing the most heinous of crimes. Where else can the gross negligence and wanton disregard of an insurer relating to the incompetent delay or denial of necessary life-saving medical treatment that leads to the death of an injured worker allow them to get off scott free with no fear of recrimination, financial liability or responsibility?

Now do you get the picture?

As with all business plans, the insurers have continued to fine-tune theirs. They have spent years figuring out how to bring together like-minded individuals with an ability to operate in unity; a blending of individuals from many "related" businesses. At the same time, this plan has had a drastic effect on legal representation for the injured worker.

They found the easiest step of all was taking advantage of greedy corporate executives and government leaders, believing [and proving] that with a lack of integrity comes a powerful negotiating tool MONEY. The more money spent, the more influence bought, yielding a net result of more POWER afforded to the insurance industry.

Insurance companies have been ever diligent in their efforts to bring this plan to fruition. They, step-by-step, have spent the last 20 years and billions of dollars bringing together like-minded individuals from the corporate world, select attorneys, and elected officials.

Insurance companies have their attorneys in waiting and pay them well to defend their bad faith activities. All the while applicants' [injured worker] attorneys are being forced to reconsider taking on Workers' Compensation cases because, through legislation, the insurance industry has managed to drastically reduce Permanent Disability Awards; the single source considered in paying applicant attorneys their pittance of a fee for representing their injured worker clients. The insurance industry won't be happy until injured workers have totally lost their right to legal representation in a very legally complex system!

This group of corporate criminals was formed [and continues to grow] with a common philosophy, "above all else, focus on profit retention". However, they knew to accomplish this they would have to exploit the American People, starting at the top.

The Reality Sets In!
The system is so corrupt and wrought with such widespread fraud and corruption that no one wants to do anything about it. Even the state insurance regulators and watchdogs, the State Department of Insurance, sit by idily as occupationally injured workers are victimized by ruthless corporate predators for fear that the whole system will simply collapse under the weight of widespread prosecutions.

Insurers educate subordinates ways to ignore the person and the injuries they suffer from and to focus solely on the industries profit driven directives, teaching them to make subtle [some not so subtle] influences within the claim process.

We all know and talk about the fraud committed by insurers on a regular basis; however, what represents fraud to us is merely "business as usual" to the insurance industry. Did you ever notice that except for the accusations from the insurance industry there is very little in the news about "Worker Fraud"? Why, simply because there is very little actual "insurance fraud" committed by injured workers. Another aspect of this 20-year plan is the amount of money insurers spend each year in advertising campaigns.

These ad campaigns are not sales oriented or directed not only to the public they are designed and used as propaganda to create the illusion of rampant worker fraud; with the sole purpose of misdirecting the attention of the our government leaders as well. As the old adage goes, "if you repeat a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it's true," and, for all intents and purposes it is insulting to the American people.

A prime example of the influences that the insurance industry has on our leaders is evident in the attempts by State Senate Pro Tem Don Perata's efforts to pass his Permanent Disability increase bill, which has already been vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger on two occasions. The governor has followed the line presented by an Insurer/Employer Coalition; as any "businessman to another" would do and has [twice] failed the workforce and the people of California.

This Insurer/Employer Coalition, led by the California Chamber of Commerce keeps mixing their words up and calls any effort to help the injured workers of California a "job killer." It's not killing any jobs! What they really mean is that it is a "profit killer"!

The Final Step
The final step of this 20-year plan brings to light the original obstacle they faced, an obstacle so large and difficult to overcome. This final obstacle has been the main focus of every step of this 20-year plan from its inception.

What has transpired over the past 20 years, the chipping away at our laws, the buying off of our elected politicians, and the networking with unscrupulous corporate executives has been what was necessary to finally take on the last and most important obstacle of all; an across the board, wholesale elimination of legal representation for the injured workers of California and the United States.

Applicants' attorneys, are the last line of defense for the injured worker and the last obstacle for the insurance industry to overcome. The insurance industry has completed the prerequisites to get to this step and are now poised to attack. Once this occurs there will be no further obstacles to overcome and the insurance industry will finally have succeeded to destroy this much needed system.

It's time to be part of the cure, not the problem. A legislative fix just simply is not the solution, as long as the insurance industry has the ability to grease the right palms in our legislature. We're the only ones that have the kahones to tell you the truth. Help us put a stop to this fraud & corruption! There is a Paypal button in the next article below. Use it and help us get the word out to all concerned Californians. It's entirely up to you. Our 501(c3)tax exempt status is pending.

Thanks to all of you who have supported us over the past several years. Our phone lines have been ringing off the hook not only from injured workers in California but in many other states and Canada. So much so, that we have made the decision to help injured workers on a national basis. That's going to make our operating costs skyrocket and we're counting on some of you good souls out there to help us along.

Keep in mind that we are not a political organization like VIAW. We are a (tax-deductible IRS status pending) 501(c)(3) charitable educational non-profit corporation dedicated to educating, informing and empowering America's injured workers. And you can actually see your money at work! We produce the only regularly scheduled television show in California, Injured On The Job that exclusively deals with the issues that face California's occupationally injured workers.

Remember that this is a Full Featured website and not just a glorified blog as some others try to pass off. Hey we have one of those too located at blog.ciaw.org. Check the informational pages that are located in the grey colored gutters on either side of the yellow center. They are just chock full of information for injured workers both here in California and around the country. This Workers Compensation problem is not just a California problem, it's a national problem!

It's not cheap, but it's very necessary! It's your voice! It's up to you! That means that all donations are tax-deductable. We have had absolutely great response to our Injured Worker Horror Story videos both here on our website (it's not just a blog) and over at www.YouTube.com as well. The response and outrage of viewers has been unbelievable and apparently we are hitting the right nerve as many of you want to know what you can do to help this noble cause.

For those of you that want to help us fight this scourge on working Californians, please contact us or use the PayPal button to contribute to thyis noble of causes.

Our address is P.O. Box 292454, Sacramento, CA 95829-2454, and we ARE Californians Injured At Work.

Below is a Paypal button, should you wish to use a credit or debit card thru their secure website. We don't waste our time chasing after politicians. You've seen where all that effort gets you. NO WHERE..... And we're not afraid to get in the faces of these white collar crooks who think that they can buy anybody off!

Help us help others. You get alot of bang for your buck and there is absolutely nothing wasted on administrative costs. It all goes to helping and assisting the occupationally injured deal with the best Workers Compensation system that insurance industry money can buy.

Click on the "PayPal Logo" below to use your Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express card.

Since the so-called reforms of 2004, the California Workers Compensation system has gone to hell in a handbasket! The governor SOLD control of the system to his insurance industry buddies for contributions to his ever mounting political campaign fund. Face it, they're not giving him money because he's a nice guy, they're giving it to him to buy influence.

His so-called reforms have re-capitalized an industry that took some very serious hits in their investment portfolios in the latter part of the 1990's due to bad investments and the reinsurance scams, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. The money had to come from somewhere. So why not get it off of the backs of California's injured workers and make the public believe there is a serious crisis? And so they did. Now at least you know why you aren't getting the benefits that the state constitution and that social contract of 1913 mandates.

Are you tired of the Fraud & Corruption that have taken over this state? Do you wonder why no one will enforce the laws that are there supposedly to protect you and I when your employer and his insurer violate them with impunity? It's all about Money & Power. Are you ready to do something about it? Californians Injured At Work is one of the oldest and largest injured worker advocacy organizations in the California and we're dedicated to stopping this rampant fraud and corruption. We don't chase around kissing legislative asses! They are part of the problem, not the cure!

Do you want to tell your story of horror on television, we'll give you that chance. That is precisely why we created the "Injured On The Job" television program well over 4 years ago. Contact us for further information, meanwhile check out the Injured Workers channel on www.YouTube.com or our streaming video page to watch and hear of the difficulties of others trying to deal with this dysfunctional and broken system.

If you need information about this broken Workers Compensation system, you've come to the right place. We have a built-in internal search engine to find what information you might need, not some flash enabled site that is all looks and no substance.

If you're tired of people and organizations who claim to help you, but don't, then join us and together we'll stop this nonsense.

Join us and help us to help others. It's up to you!

To Join Californians Injured At Work, CLICK HERE!

To Help Support Californians Injured At Work, CLICK HERE!

The Insurance Commissioner & District Attorneys From Around The State Ignore Fraud Committed By Insurers & Their Attorneys and Doctors!
There is an inherent Conflict Of Interests between the Department of Insurance and District Attorneys from around the state who you think are working in YOUR best interests. The reality is that they are NOT! The Department of Insurance gives the DA's money from the Fraud Assessment Commission to fight fraud, and more and more evidence shows that they are trying to prosecute the occupationally injured whether they are guilty or not to get their peice of the multi-million dollar pie. There simply is no financial incentive for them to go after the real bad guys who bring the system to a standstill! When injured workers file complaints with the DOI and the DA's illustrating prima facie cases of insurance fraud committed by insurers and their doctors and defense counsel, they are simply ignored or buried. So WHO is really committing the fraud?

SB899 Reduced Or Totally Elimated Meaningful Penalties For Insurance Carrier Misconduct & Delay!
Governor Schwarzenegger reduced penalties on insurance carriers who repeatedly, unjustifiably & maliciously withhold payments for accepted medical care and disability benefits. As of 6/1/2004, penalties were reduced to 10% of the amount denied. Insurance carriers can now routinely deny valid benefits and treatment with impunity. Late payment and unreasonable withholding of benefits is widespread, penalties should be increased, not decreased. Gone is the Labor Code 5814 (Full Species) penalty which insurance carriers feared, which forced them into some form of compliance with the laws and made a serious dent in their pocketbooks.

Insurance Carriers Were Allowed To Pocket All Of The Savings From The Changes Of SB899!
Governor Schwarzenegger refused to regulate excess insurance premiums. Insurers have ignored rate reduction recommendations and have reported record-high profits. Insurers have pocketed billions of dollars cut from injured workers, while employers have seen little, if any, respectable reductions in insurance premiums.

The Injured Workers' Choice Of A Competent Treating Physician Has Been Eliminated!
All injured workers (as of 1/1/2005) are now forced into employer and insurer controlled "Medical Provider Networks!" We're back to the days of the company controlled town.... No longer can you choose a treating physician in whom you have the utmost trust, faith and confidence. Most company doctors aren't primarily interested in the injured worker's care or wellbeing, nor whether he gets back to work or not, only in the company's repeat business!

The New Permanent Disability Schedules Cut The Compensation Of Injured Workers By Almost 75%!
Governor Schwarzenegger rushed into law (as of 1/1/2005) at the request of the insurance industry and their lobbyists, a Permanent Disability Schedule that reduces an injured worker's permanent disability compensation by almost 75%. Thousands of California workers - such as farmworkers and especially public safety officers - with disabling back, shoulder, and knee injuries will have a "0%" AMA Guides impairment rating and receive no benefits at all. It's happening now!

Apportionment To Causation Unfairly Penalizes Women, Mothers, & Naturally Aging Workers!
Apportionment to causation, (4/19/2004) further reduces permanent disability benefits based on conditions both known and unknown such as having given birth, having lived long enough to start aging, and being born with defects that are not work disabling. Workers with diabetes or osteoporosis, or aging workers with asymptomatic arthritis, now receive reduced benefits.

The Courts of Appeal are now starting to hear cases which deal with these very issues!

SB899 Arbitrarily Cut Off Temporary Disability Benefits For The Most Severely Disabled Workers!
Governor Schwarzenegger cut off (as of 4/19/2006) temporary disability benefits after two years whether the worker is healed or not. How do you tell Mother Nature to fix you in 24 months or else, for those who suffer the most catastrophic of injuries, and require a long road back to recovery? Discontinuing wage replacement benefits while workers are still medically unable to work is immoral, unconscionable and unfair, and hurts the most seriously injured or ill workers.

CIAW member and fraud investigator Ray Polly along with volunteer director Sam Gold and member Bill Parkin participated in one of Kurtis Ming's "Call Kurtis" segments dealing with Workers Compensation Fraud investigation.

This piece was originally shown on the 10 O'Clock news on Thanksgiving night.

Click on the picture below for the video.

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Free WordPress Blogs For Injured Workers.

What is that you say? A FREE Blog for a California Injured Worker to use to tell his or her Injured Worker Horror Story?

You heard right! FREE with no strings! Californians Injured At Work, one of California's largest and oldest injured worker advocacy organizations wants to give you a free WordPress Blog to use to tell your California Workers Compensation Horror Story.

You've probably already found out by now that no one in mainstream media wants to hear your tale of fraud & corruption committed against you by your employer and his Workers Compensation insurance carrier.

We do, and we'll give you a blog in cyberspace to do it with. You're responsible for the content and we'll send the media over here to read your stories.

We may even consider your story for inclusion in a segment of the "Injured On The Job" television program (www.injuredonthejob.tv), the only regularly scheduled television program in California that deals with the issues facing injured workers in today's California.

Just a few simple rules:

• It's not for commerical use.
• Keep it up and current.
• Don't use it to slander or defame anybody.

We know how bad you feel, but negative press won't help you accomplish your goal!

WordPress is very powerful and comes with easy to understand documentation! It's themes and other available accessories are supported by a large worldwide community.

Go to www.injuredworkerhorrorstories.com for more information.

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Yesterday, the California Court Of Appeals, First Appellate District, Division Three, issued a decision certified for publication, in the case of Californians Injured At Work member and former Atherton Township Police Department Dispatcher Anita Blick, vacating the conviction that the San Mateo County District Attorney won against her for a violation of Penal Code 550(b)(3), a most ambiguous piece of law at that, in a trial that more resembled a Kangaroo Court and lasted five weeks. She was forced to serve 60 days of a 90 day sentence in solitary confinement in the San Mateo County jail and they still admitted that she was injured!

Above, is a picture of Mrs. Blick when she appeared on the John Rothmann show on KGO Newstalk Radio 810 and told her story of fraud and corruption committed against her by the Town of Atherton, the San Mateo County District Attorneys Office and the Cities Group, the insurer of the Township of Atherton and all municipalities in San Mateo County.

This is just another way that Californians Injured At Work helps their own.

If you go to the top of the main page of this website and click on the link in the left hand grey gutter to take you to the web site search engine, you will find stories that we have done about Mrs. Blick including radio and television appearances in streaming audio & video.

This is a spectacular victory for injured workers all over California who have been falsely accused of Workers Compensation fraud. This legal ploy can no longer be used against an injured worker in this judicial district! It goes to show you that the law works in mysterious ways and sometimes, just sometimes, the checks and balances of the law work.

The legal issue at hand in the appeal was "Does an act of fraud require specific intent?" Putting it a bit simpler, was the District Attorney required to prove that she was in a culpable state of mind when she is alleged to have committed this offense?

J. Courtney Shevelson Esq., of Carmel, her appeals attorney said that the issue became how could insurance claimants be held criminally liable if they don't know they have a duty to do more than they've done.

"That was the problem with Mrs. Blick. She had reported improvement over the course of years," he said.

"Misrepresentations have to be accompanied by an intent to defraud. In this country we punish people for a criminal act, not for a sin of omission," he stressed.

The court reviewed the statute and concluded: "In short, the person must intend to commit a fraud."

In 1994 Mrs. Blick fell during her normal shift as a dispatcher at the Atherton Township Police Department as she was running to answer the 911 telephone that was not supposed to ring more thasn 3 times without being answered.

A complaint filed on March 24, 2005, charged Blick as follows:

Count 1 - Making a knowingly false or fraudulent material statement or representation for the purpose of obtaining compensation, in violation of Insurance Code section 1871.4, subdivision (a)(1);
Count 2 - Grand Theft, in violation of Penal Code section 487, subdivision (a);
Count 3 - Concealing or knowingly failing to disclose the occurrence of an event affecting the continued right to receive an insurance benefit, in violation of Penal Code section 550, subdivision (b)(3). The Town of Atherton through the Cities Group claimed total losses of $247,000, including the cost of the investigative process and attorney fees.

The Township of Atherton and the Cities Group were unable to get convictions of the first 2 counts but were able to persuade the judge to find her guilty of the 3rd count.

It should be noted that the Cities Group was found to have violated Mrs. Blick's rights under the law in that they never notified Mrs. Blick that she was eligible for vocational rehabilitation under the California Labor Code, they underpaid her Total Temporary Disability and they illegally terminated her Total Temporary Disability without just cause.

The TTD issues went before the California State Supreme Court and a judgement was handed down in Mrs. Blick's favor approximately a month before the Cities Group made the decision to prosecute her on these spurious charges. Mrs. Blick vocationally rehabilitated herself successfully as a phlebotomist when it was obvious that she could no longer handle her job as a dispatcher at the Police Department.

This is not the first time a Workers Compensation insurer has filed phony charges against an injured worker once they have been caught with their pants down. It seems like it is a very common occurrence around the state. and you thought that the District Attorney was there to protect your rights! Wrong again!

What many people don't know is that District Attorneys around the state are paid to go after injured workers in cases of fraud. The money is dispersed every year by the Department of Insurance's Fraud Assessment Commission, to DA's from all around the state. It seems the more successful prosecutions they get, the more money they get!

You have probably never heard of a District Attorney prosecuting a insurance company for fraud because there is simply no money in it for them to go after the hand that feeds them, even though hundreds of these cases are reported to DA's every year. They seem to hit the round file before anyone's eye ever see them.

If that isn't a big conflict of interests, I don't know what is. And life goes on. And good people are persecuted by these vicious predators. And those whose job it is to protect us simply look the other way and count the money that Steve Poizner's commission hands out to them.

It should be noted that this appeals process and the defense of her against these totally bogus charges cost her over $150,000 plus out of her own pocket and forced her to take out a mortgage on her house. What if she were unable to afford a defense attorney and had relied on a public defender to represent her? Scary thought, isn't it.

So what does winning the appeal give her; simply a new trial. Question is, is the county going to attempt to retry her now that the legal premise of specific intent is forever changed in this particular judicial district and no longer usable.

Are they going to want the issues of perjury committed by representatives of the Cities Group and the Assistant District Attorney to be allowed into evidence at a new trial or are they going to do damage control and try to settle civil damages that I'm sure Mrs. Blick is going to bring against them in the very near future?

A great debt of gratitude goes to applicant's attorney Robert Bledsoe, Esq. of San Jose, CA, a member of the California Applicant's Attorneys Association, who has been representing Mrs. Blick thoughout this whole process since 1994 and still has yet to see one cent from this case. Also to Joseph Courtney Shevelson, Esq. of Carmel, CA, her appeals attorney.

Well, they have a little over a month to appeal the court's vacating of the judgement and we are informed that the decision was unanimous. We shall see won't we.

To read the notice to vacate judgement, CLICK HERE. Check it out. It's great reading even if you're not a lawyer.

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules...
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race, forward.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Think Different!

Watch the "Think Different" Video.......

I guess we're the crazy ones, the ones who aren't afraid of the insurance companies.....or the state bureaucrats who pimp and pander for the governor's interests.

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If You Have Been Denied Medical Treatment Or Have Been Threatened By A Gallagher-Bassett Services Claims Administrator, We Want To Know About It.

It has been alleged that injured workers have been threatened by Gallagher-Bassett Services Claims Administrators, if they don't terminate their Workers Compensation claims. This type of behavior is not only illegal, but unconscionable! The questionable claims handling practices of this third-party administrator for large, permissively self-insured employers, and their blatant refusal to provide medical treatment to injured employees in desperate medical situations, allegedly has been the proximate cause of at least 2 suicides of injured workers in California!

Some Gallagher-Bassett Services employer clients are United Airlines, McDonalds Corp., Waste Management Inc., Thyssen-Krupp Elevators to name a few.

"Injured On The Job," the only regularly scheduled television show in California that exposes the fraud & corruption perpetrated by insurers, intends to do a future show segment detailing these activities. If you think that your Workers Compensation case meets this criteria, please contact our segment producers at iwvideo@yahoo.com.

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner Meets With CIAW Members.

January 17, 2007

Californians Injured At Work members met with newly elected California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and members of his executive legal staff in Sacramento this morning to discuss issues facing California's injured workers post SB899. One of the key points brought up by director Sam Gold, was the issue of fraud perpetrated by Workers Compensation insurance carriers and their attorneys against injured workers and why these numerous complaints were not being prosecuted by the fraud investigation unit of the Department of Insurance. Commissioner Poizner has made reducing insurance fraud a high priority during his term. Other members of his legal staff also participated by teleconference.

Labor activist and CIAW board member and CCWMD chair Steve Zeltzer brought to their attention the cost-shifting that is occurring when medical subsidies such as Medi-Cal and Medi-Care are forced to take care of injured workers' occupational injuries due to the refusal of insurers to comply with constitutional and legislative mandate.

Injured worker Joe Dow explained how he was injured at Lowes Home Improvment Centers and their ongoing campaign to discredit him. Also in attendance were April Gottman and Lloyd Kennedy.

Commissioner Poizner is a multi-millionaire in his own right, who used much of his own money to finance his campaign for insurance commissioner as he did in 2004 in his unsuccessful bid for the Assembly. He appears to be in politics to make a difference, not a million, as many others seem to be. Prior to his political career, he worked in Silicon Valley as a high tech entrepreneur; founding both SnapTrak, Inc and Strategic Mapping, Inc., which deal with GPS location technology. He was a White House fellow in 2001-2002 (One of twelve fellows selected for this highly competitive and respected non-partisan program). He was selected out of a pool of 1000 candidates.

If you have documentary evidence that you have experienced an occurrence of Workers Compensation fraud perpetrated against you by an insurance company, their agents or their counsel, we want to know about it, so that we may bring your case to the commissioner's attention. Contact us at wcfraud@ciaw.org.

"Injured On The Job" is the only television program in the State of California that was created to give California's injured workers a media outlet to illustrate the tragedies that injured workers, their spouses and their family members are being forced to endure, while the insurance companies make 400-500-600% profits off of their backs! It's here for YOU!

Going begging to state legislators to change the laws isn't the solution. We've been there.... We've done that!.... It didn't work.....Many of these legislators ARE the problem! Except for a dozen and a half or so honest ones, for the most part they ignore the wants and needs of their constituents and follow party lines and most importantly follow the money trail of industry lobbyists. Special interest money has a VERY loud voice in Sacramento!

In the 21st century, you have to fight fire with fire; the insurance companies, the governor, their lobbyists and PR spin doctors use the television medium to disseminate false information, so why shouldn't injured workers use it to simply tell the truth to Californans who can make all the difference at the polls, about what's really going on in this state.

Placing a Workers Comp horror story on a website simply doesn't cut the mustard especially when nobody reads them. You have to get in people's face, or no one will listen. You HAVE to control the message that Californians hear. That's what we do. We are injured workers like you and we are building an injured workers television network all over the State of California.

We'll bring you the latest news and information about what's going on in workers Comp around the state and we won't keep you in the dark about what's really going on, like others in this state who claim to advocate for injured workers do.

We are going to put "Injured On The Job" in public and community access cable stations all over the state.

Contact the Injured On The Job producers at 916 290-7573 for more information on how you can get your story told.

If you want to help financially, we welcome your participation. You'll be part of a movement that will be unstoppable. YOU CAN SEE YOUR MONEY AT WORK each month.

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Californians Injured At Work (CIAW), was formerly known as the California Injured Workers Coalition, one of the oldest and largest injured workers advocacy organizations in California.

We produce and sponsor the "Injured On The Job" television show which is the only television show in California devoted to exposing the rampant fraud and corruption in California's Workers' Compensation system. It exists to educate you, the injured worker. It exists to inform you, the injured worker. It exists to empower you, the injured worker.

Sponsor it on the Public Access cable channel in your town or city. It doesn't cost a cent. Then you'll have YOUR OWN media channel.

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If you can, help support our television program "Injured On The Job" which is being carried by Public & Community Access Cable television stations around the state. Our goal is to saturate the state with this program, but it takes money to cover all of the production costs which are now being borne by a few select individuals.

This is one place where you can see where your money goes, and you can certainly see your money at work. For more information go to www.injuredonthejob.tv, and watch our programs which are also streamed on the internet for those who don't have cable.

Join us and help us deliver the real truth to the people of California!