Workers’ Compensation Cost-Shifting: the Only People Saving Money Are the Insurance Companies

Lake Balboa, CA, July 16, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Research in the newly released book, "The Truth About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" by Jill Gambaro, reveals that taxpayers now carry the burden for disabled workers. The author describes how insurance industry-backed measures, enacted state by state over the last 20 years, have shifted the cost of injured workers onto Social Security and Medicare. Today, most of the responsibility for compensating those disabled workers now resides in the federal government. “It's about to get worse,” warns Gambaro, “as many texting teens will enter the workforce already injured.” Children as young as eight years old already spend 50% more time using their technology than adult counterparts on the job. Her book forecasts that when those teens enter the workforce, one-third of them are expected to have a pre-existing condition from overuse of technology, and 94.8% of Medicare’s costs will be covering the disabled.

Opting-out, the latest trend in workers’ compensation reform, only exacerbates this problem, as companies first in Texas and now in Oklahoma are allowed to set up their own system for treating and compensating injured employees. With their take it or leave it arbitration schemes, many more disabled workers are expected to join the rolls of Social Security and Medicare in the future. Gambaro says, “The Supreme Court is about to decide whether employers can impose their religious beliefs on to their employees health care plans, but they’re already doing just that through these laws in Texas and Oklahoma.”

Carpal tunnel syndrome has long been the brunt of comedian fodder. In fact, it's the number one occupational illness in the country, and the most common cause of physical disability in the world. In the U.S. alone, it costs approximately $850 billion a year. Yet these statistics don’t even begin to tell the true story behind Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. What medical science doesn’t understand, the workers’ compensation industry denies and delays. A California report indicates that workers suffering these injuries become stuck in the system three times longer than any other occupational injury or illness, leading to three times the permanent disabilities.

"The Truth About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Finding Answers, Getting Well" by Jill Gambaro is now available through Rowman & Littlefield. For more information visit www.truthaboutcarpaltunnel.com.