The stage is set for the fight of the year in the California's Workers Compensation arena and it's going to be about Apportionment to Causation, you know apportionment for conditions related to age, gender, genetics, predisposition and other similar factors. The legislative changes passed in 2003 and 2004 reduced costs by 70% from projected levels, saving $14.5 billion a year and it is all going back into the corporate pockets of America's insurance companies with employers not seeing as significant a reduction in their premiums as promised.

We must keep in mind that the insurance industry is a business, which by definition means "profit-based", and they are not health management, patient care, or compassionate medical care providers. Claims adjusters, examiners, or whatever you call them, are not trained to provide medical care, income replacement, and/or positive emotional support, unless they absolutely must. However, they are trained to examine, explore, manipulate, and resolve (close) claims. They are all "for-profit" entities that take risks based on projected returns.

God only knows that employers haven't seen their fair share of a return and it's been over 4 years since those changes were implemented, but wait a minute, that's why big insurance wanted them passed in the first place, right?

Notice that we didn't call those changes a reform. To be a reform, they would actually have to be positive changes and positive they were not! In the guise of supposedly eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, they also eliminated or drastically reduced the financial lifeline that many injured workers and their families rely on for basic survival.

Many physicians, not understanding the vague nature of the apportionment provisions of SB899 have felt compelled to apportion against age, gender, race and ethnicity whether they have knowledge of any underlying condition or not.

The California Applicants' Attorneys Association has put their political and legislative might behind a bill that Senate Labor & Industrial Relations chairperson Senator Carole Migden has introduced as Senate Bill 1115. This bill bans discrimination in determining disability compensation for injured workers specifically on the basis of age, gender, race and ethnicity. But wait a minute, isn't there already a state law that already forbids that; California State Government Code, Section 11135?

Many employer groups including the California Chamber of Commerce are yelling foul, and will most probably fight this bill with all the resources available to them, but they are going to look very heavy handed if they oppose such a change. It's a fight of good against evil.

May the force be with you...