Hot tubs?
Crazy expenditures will expose
Workers' Comp to more cynicism
WEST Virginians work hard, many of them at dangerous jobs. Thisstate has more reason than most to make sure workers are treatedfairly when they are injured.
But hot tubs?
Say it isn't so.
Officials of Workers' Compensation complained this week that anadministrative law judge ordered them to purchase a hot tub for aclaimant who had injured her back.
Steve Cavender, who manages the agency's Office of MedicalService, told the Daily Mail's Karin Fischer that the womansubmitted a claim for a tub with whirlpool jets. Her physician saidit was part of her therapy.
Workers' Compensation refused. Cavender said the agency has aschedule of equipment it will pay for - a list used by insurersnationwide. Hot tubs aren't on it.
The woman appealed. An administrative law judge ruled in herfavor. She selected a $5,000 hot tub.
Workers' Comp countered with an offer to buy an insert to herexisting bathtub. That would have cost $300 to $400, Cavender said.
No deal.
The agency offered to buy the claimant a health club membershipor pay for visits to a physical therapist where she would haveaccess to whirlpool treatments.
Again, according to Cavender, no deal.
The upshot was that Workers' Comp purchased a $2,000 hot tub andpaid $600 to pour a concrete pad outside of the claimant's house tohold the thing.
Officials with other insurers were incredulous.
Spokesmen for the Public Employees Insurance Agency, MountainState Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Health Plan of the Upper Ohio Valley,and Benefit Services, a third-party claims administrator, all toldFischer their companies would resist covering such an item.
Robert Smith, chief administrative law judge for Workers'Compensation, says the code is not specific on medical appliances,and that judges must make their decisions based on the recordsdeveloped in each case.
If that's the case, maybe policy or code need to be clarified -maybe both.
Buying items like hot tubs will not just break the bank atWorkers' Compensation, an agency that needs no help in thatdepartment.
The cynicism it breeds will expose the agency to even morespurious claims - and even less support from the public at large.
