As the Legislature reaches the halfway point of session this week, the Legislature heard and advanced four workers’ compensation bills with significant benefit expansions and fundamental changes to the system out of both the House and Senate’s labor committees. WR’s core advocacy has focused on underlying system concerns, including low contingency reserve ratios, operating expenses exceeding premium collection, and continuous rate increases while rates are dropping in many other states.
Fortunately, most of the benefit expansion bills did not advance as of this Monday. One remaining concern is HB 2218/ SB 5847, which includes significant reversals of key 2011 reforms. The bill would allow attending providers to depart from established treatment guidelines without objective support or review, permit claimants to access out-of-network providers whenever no in-network provider is available within an arbitrary 15-mile radius, and restrict employers from “inducing” workers to seek care from specific medical providers, with substantial penalties for violations.
While the real-life stories that prompted this bill are compelling, WR assesses that these cases reflect operational challenges placed on L&I when the Legislature required the agency to implement multiple benefit expansions and system changes in recent years.
WR will continue to advocate for system improvements rather than symptom-based fixes to ensure the social safety network for workers remains financially and operationally sound and sustainable.
