Half Had To Fight For Their Benefits
In 2011, over 28,000 workers’ compensation cases were settled and closed in Colorado. Each one of these parties received an exit survey regarding their case and the results are in.
As of July 2010, all insurers are required to conduct an exit survey of injured workers, or if deceased, the decedent’s dependents when a workers’ compensation case is closed. This new rule is in accordance with new legislation, and the results are reported annually.
Out of the 28,000 surveys sent last year, over 4000 responded, a little less than 25% of the total population of workers’ comp. cases. Of those 4000 that responded, only about half had disputes regarding their case. That means that approximately 2000 respondents or about seven percent of the total claimants had no disputes or battles in their case. This seems like good news, but generally almost one in four cases are contested in one form or another and approximately 80% of workers’ compensation cases didn’t even respond to the survey. The survey is formatted much like a customer satisfaction survey, so the results might be somewhat skewed, but the population of survey respondents seem to be more on the side of satisfied claimants and less so from those with disputes.
Among those claiming a legal dispute, they were asked to rate their satisfaction rate on the dispute from a scale of 1 to 5; 5 being most satisfied to 1 being least satisfied, the average answer comes out at 2.9. This results of this statistic come down to whether the glass is half empty, or half full. On one hand, this number shows that where there is a dispute involved, almost half of clients are unsatisfied with the outcome. On the other hand, a strong majority of approximately 58% are satisfied after a dispute.
Regardless of how you read the results, a 50/50 chance is not great odds in any situation. Dissatisfaction from respondents’ roots in the length of time required coming to a resolution and the compensation delivered. Disputed workers’ compensation cases can take several months to resolve. When medical bills and health risk factors are multiplying quickly, this is a concern – especially when getting a hearing to resolve a dispute can take three to six months and sometimes longer if the case is appealed.
The workers’ compensation pool can be murky at times, but this process must be expedited, when you are represented by an experienced workers’ compensation attorney. Call our office at 303-780-7329 or, click HERE for your free no-obligation consultation.
Source: Colorado.gov Injured Workers Exit Survey