Do you know the two things that can make the difference in your worker's compensation settlement? Spartanburg worker's compensation lawyer Rob Usry explains in this video.
How A South Carolina Workers' Comp Lawyer Can Help
Let's talk for a minute about two things that you, or your workers compensation lawyer, if you have one, can negotiate that might have the biggest impact on you in your workers compensation case. The first is medical care. You may be able to negotiate with the insurance company to get them to continue to pay your future medical care as long as it makes you better. You might also be able to negotiate with the insurance company to give you the right to come back for future medical care, for one year after your last comp check. And finally you might just decide to let the insurance company off the hook entirely for future medical care. We call that a clincher. It sounds like a bad idea but it works in a lot of cases, especially if you don't think you're going to have to come back to get any more medical treatment.
The reason it works out better is you can convince the compensation carrier to pay you a little more money and they might. The reason for it is you end their risk of having to pay for future medical care. so if you sign a clincher and you come back for more medical care from the carrier, they're going to tell you “I'm sorry you clinched your case and it's over.” that's something to keep in mind.
The second thing that can really change the value of your case that might be negotiated is your disability rating. Your workers compensation disability rating is based on the impairment rating you get from your doctor. The impairment rating measures your loss of mobility, that's motion, and strength that's permanent as a result of your work injury. Then, the parties try to negotiate the amount of your disability rating. your disability rating measures how much that impairment rating hurts your ability to work and it's different for just about everybody. For example, a ten percent medical impairment to your arm is going to result in a much bigger work disability for a bricklayer than an office worker. Bricklayers got a lift and carry heavy loads all the time, while an office worker just doesn't.
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So those are two things that can really impact the value of your claim and affect you in the future for your injury. I thank you for thinking about this with me and listening to me.
