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The Realities Of The California Workers Compensation SystemDo you want the truth without all the sugar coating? Well, here it is! Question is,can you handle it? Click above!!
The Eric Drew StoryWhile lying in a hospital bed, a Northern California man, fighting for his life from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, gets his identity stolen by a hospital technician who goes on a shopping spree; but this man fights back Sherlock Holmes style! Eric Drew is the first & only person in the United States to seek and force a federal criminal conviction for "identity theft" under the Federal HIPAA statutes. Click above!! 
A disabled and injured worker sues a conniving & despicable" attorney & his claims adjustor
accomplice for $40 million under the Civil War "Ku Klux Klan" Act!Click above!! Exclusive phone interview.
Read this heartbreaking story of how insurance giant AIG and a Kellogg, Brown
& Root/Halliburton subsidiary,Service Employees International, Inc. stick it to one of their own employees and kick sand in the faces of American workers supporting our troops overseas in the war zones. Click above!! 
Here is one California attorney who isn't afraid to take on big insurance. This book
isMUST READING! It's about insurance, fraud & the big business of bad faith! Click above!! 
Injured On The Job host and CIAW director Sam Gold & Injured On The Job host and labor activist Steve Zeltzer drop in on the John Rothmann show on KGO Newstalk Radio 810AM to talk about the Workers Compensation system.April 2, 2006 September 10, 2006 Click above!! 
Injured On The Job host Sam Gold & injured worker Barbara Clark drop in on the Christine Craft show on Talk City 1240AM to talk about the influx of White Collar Crime and why no one in state government is doing anything about holding those committing it accountable.February 23, 2007 Click above!! 
Just how low will a Workers Compensation insurance company stoop to beat an injured worker
out of benefits.Maybe this story will help you understand their way of thinking. Click above!! 
CONTINUOUS TRAUMA is a searing legal and psychological suspense drama that's also an expose
of corrupt worker's compensation and health care practices that endanger the health and welfare of thousands of Americans
every day. It's a story based on actual case histories and on events that could happen to any of us, at any time.
Click above!! |
How It All Started Insurance companies and their corporate attorneys are in business to make a profit. As such, they are also in the business of making business profitable. Look around and you will find many examples of corporate fraud in the news, not only across all lines of insurance, but in many other consumer driven businesses as well. While not every businessman is a crook, some are. There are those who will "fudge" a little, and there are quite a few who will say nothing about it ["Job Security"]; however, there are a select few that will just break the law with impunity in order to improve their financial bottom line. The news is filled with million dollar "Insurance Fraud" cases within the Workers' Compensation system of California and other states as well, but it is generally employers, providers, vendors, and "insurance related" businesses you will hear about. Not until this past decade or so have some select "politicians" and "adjudicators" actually called them what they really are. Federal and State Courts, as well as representatives of several State Governments have accurately described the insurance industry as totally corrupted by greedy top-level executives. As with "privately" purchased insurance policies, individuals have civil Tort Law to compensate them when an "Insurer" has committed fraud [or an "act of bad faith"] against the applicant, claimant, and injured, or disabled person. However, in the area of work related injuries, the right to bring civil action against an employer or their "Workers' Compensation insurance carrier" has been eliminated. It has been replaced with the infamous, "Exclusive Remedy", a drastically flawed concept of "fairness" given to the employer and worker alike. But, more importantly it is just another part of the 20-year plan; insurers have found it less costly to pay up to $10,000 for immediate medical attention while they work on denying the claim without fear of retribution. The Exclusive Remedy is best described as a compromise, an agreement if you will, to provide the appropriate and immediate medical care/treatment necessary to "Cure or Relieve", even before the claim is processed. For this promise, injured workers have been stripped of their rights to bring suit within the civil court system. And, just who made this compromise; it certainly wasn't the workforce of this State. It was employers, insurers, and your State officials that have brought this system to the sorry state it is in today. The Exclusive Remedy has become exactly what insurers have wanted all along, a "post-injury" shield to protect them from prosecution for the widespread criminal acts, abuses and fraudulent practices employed to deny, delay, and/or terminate all claims, legitimate or not.
The 20-Year Plan The 20-year plan is a euphemism for "How To Keep All The Money". Insurance companies, over two plus decades, have been using a business plan designed to strip injury related cases from the jurisdiction of State and Federal Courts. Many years ago insurance companies started a process whereby they would invest millions in politicians, legislators, and the mainstream media, through political contributions and erroneous, misleading advertising. Attorneys and Lobbyists for the insurance industry have been very effective and, over time, have managed to make many subtle but significant changes to insurance laws and/or regulations, ultimately allowing insurers to write policies that afford them sole discretionary powers to investigate, interpret, and decide the validity of an injured workers claim. Simply put, to practice medicine without a license or fear of retribution. Each phase of this 20-year plan has brought with it additional resources the insurer would employ to deny, delay, and eliminate claims, i.e. unscrupulous claim handlers, unethical insurance company doctors, and outside vendors that provide the industry with a wide array of services geared toward reducing or completely terminating all claims made by injured workers. They've already started test-driving it right here in California. It started with "big insurance" flexing their legislative muscle and forcing the passage of Senate Bill 899 in 2004. If we don't put a stop to it now, it's going to spread like wildfire all over the other 49 states. SB899 created the "Medical Provider Networks!" Now, when an injured worker goes to the doctor, the primary goal of the doctor is to get repeat business from the employer, not take care of the injuries of the injured worker in an expeditious and humane manner. SB899 created "Utilization Review," which is nothing but a ploy to delay and deny treatment on a wholesale scale. Claims examiners requesting UR send case after case to these independent physicians with little or no documentation, so the review is doomed to failure from the start! SB899 removed any meaningful penalties that kept insurers in compliance with the law. Now it's simply cheaper to pay the penalties than it is to comply with the law. And they don't even get a slap on the hand for committing the most heinous of crimes. Where else can the gross negligence and wanton disregard of an insurer relating to the incompetent delay or denial of necessary life-saving medical treatment that leads to the death of an injured worker allow them to get off scott free with no fear of recrimination, financial liability or responsibility? Now do you get the picture? As with all business plans, the insurers have continued to fine-tune theirs. They have spent years figuring out how to bring together like-minded individuals with an ability to operate in unity; a blending of individuals from many "related" businesses. At the same time, this plan has had a drastic effect on legal representation for the injured worker. They found the easiest step of all was taking advantage of greedy corporate executives and government leaders, believing [and proving] that with a lack of integrity comes a powerful negotiating tool MONEY. The more money spent, the more influence bought, yielding a net result of more POWER afforded to the insurance industry. Insurance companies have been ever diligent in their efforts to bring this plan to fruition. They, step-by-step, have spent the last 20 years and billions of dollars bringing together like-minded individuals from the corporate world, select attorneys, and elected officials. Insurance companies have their attorneys in waiting and pay them well to defend their bad faith activities. All the while applicants' [injured worker] attorneys are being forced to reconsider taking on Workers' Compensation cases because, through legislation, the insurance industry has managed to drastically reduce Permanent Disability Awards; the single source considered in paying applicant attorneys their pittance of a fee for representing their injured worker clients. The insurance industry won't be happy until injured workers have totally lost their right to legal representation in a very legally complex system! This group of corporate criminals was formed [and continues to grow] with a common philosophy, "above all else, focus on profit retention". However, they knew to accomplish this they would have to exploit the American People, starting at the top. Insurers educate subordinates ways to ignore the person and the injuries they suffer from and to focus solely on the industries profit driven directives, teaching them to make subtle [some not so subtle] influences within the claim process. We all know and talk about the fraud committed by insurers on a regular basis; however, what represents fraud to us is merely "business as usual" to the insurance industry. Did you ever notice that except for the accusations from the insurance industry there is very little in the news about "Worker Fraud"? Why, simply because there is very little actual "insurance fraud" committed by injured workers. Another aspect of this 20-year plan is the amount of money insurers spend each year in advertising campaigns. These ad campaigns are not sales oriented or directed not only to the public they are designed and used as propaganda to create the illusion of rampant worker fraud; with the sole purpose of misdirecting the attention of the our government leaders as well. As the old adage goes, "if you repeat a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it's true," and, for all intents and purposes it is insulting to the American people. A prime example of the influences that the insurance industry has on our leaders is evident in the attempts by State Senate Pro Tem Don Perata's efforts to pass his Permanent Disability increase bill, which has already been vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger on two occasions. The governor has followed the line presented by an Insurer/Employer Coalition; as any "businessman to another" would do and has [twice] failed the workforce and the people of California. This Insurer/Employer Coalition, led by the California Chamber of Commerce keeps mixing their words up and calls any effort to help the injured workers of California a "job killer." It's not killing any jobs! What they really mean is that it is a "profit killer"!
The Final Step What has transpired over the past 20 years, the chipping away at our laws, the buying off of our elected politicians, and the networking with unscrupulous corporate executives has been what was necessary to finally take on the last and most important obstacle of all; an across the board, wholesale elimination of legal representation for the injured workers of California and the United States. Applicants' attorneys, are the last line of defense for the injured worker and the last obstacle for the insurance industry to overcome. The insurance industry has completed the prerequisites to get to this step and are now poised to attack. Once this occurs there will be no further obstacles to overcome and the insurance industry will finally have succeeded to destroy this much needed system. It's time to be part of the cure, not the problem. A legislative fix just simply is not the solution, as long as the insurance industry has the ability to grease the right palms in our legislature. We're the only ones that have the kahones to tell you the truth. Help us put a stop to this fraud & corruption! There is a Paypal button in the next article below. Use it and help us get the word out to all concerned Californians. It's entirely up to you. Our 501(c3)tax exempt status is pending.
Keep in mind that we are not a political organization like VIAW. We are a (tax-deductible IRS status pending) 501(c)(3) charitable educational non-profit corporation dedicated to educating, informing and empowering America's injured workers. And you can actually see your money at work! We produce the only regularly scheduled television show in California, Injured On The Job that exclusively deals with the issues that face California's occupationally injured workers.
Remember that this is a Full Featured website and not just a glorified blog as some others try to pass off. Hey we have one of those too located at blog.ciaw.org. Check the informational pages that are located in the grey colored gutters on either side of the yellow center. They are just chock full of information for injured workers both here in California and around the country. This Workers Compensation problem is not just a California problem, it's a national problem!
It's not cheap, but it's very necessary! It's your voice! It's up to you! That means that all donations are tax-deductable. We have had absolutely great response to our Injured Worker Horror Story videos both here on our website (it's not just a blog) and over at www.YouTube.com as well. The response and outrage of viewers has been unbelievable and apparently we are hitting the right nerve as many of you want to know what you can do to help this noble cause.
For those of you that want to help us fight this scourge on working Californians, please contact us or use the PayPal button to contribute to thyis noble of causes.
Our address is P.O. Box 292454, Sacramento, CA 95829-2454, and we ARE Californians Injured At Work.
Below is a Paypal button, should you wish to use a credit or debit card thru their secure website. We don't waste our time chasing after politicians. You've seen where all that effort gets you. NO WHERE..... And we're not afraid to get in the faces of these white collar crooks who think that they can buy anybody off!
Help us help others. You get alot of bang for your buck and there is absolutely nothing wasted on administrative costs. It all goes to helping and assisting the occupationally injured deal with the best Workers Compensation system that insurance industry money can buy.
Click on the "PayPal Logo" below to use your Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express card.
His so-called reforms have re-capitalized an industry that took some very serious hits in their investment portfolios in the latter part of the 1990's due to bad investments and the reinsurance scams, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. The money had to come from somewhere. So why not get it off of the backs of California's injured workers and make the public believe there is a serious crisis? And so they did. Now at least you know why you aren't getting the benefits that the state constitution and that social contract of 1913 mandates.
Are you tired of the Fraud & Corruption that have taken over this state? Do you wonder why no one will enforce the laws that are there supposedly to protect you and I when your employer and his insurer violate them with impunity? It's all about Money & Power. Are you ready to do something about it? Californians Injured At Work is one of the oldest and largest injured worker advocacy organizations in the California and we're dedicated to stopping this rampant fraud and corruption. We don't chase around kissing legislative asses! They are part of the problem, not the cure!
Do you want to tell your story of horror on television, we'll give you that chance. That is precisely why we created the "Injured On The Job" television program well over 4 years ago. Contact us for further information, meanwhile check out the Injured Workers channel on www.YouTube.com or our streaming video page to watch and hear of the difficulties of others trying to deal with this dysfunctional and broken system.
If you need information about this broken Workers Compensation system, you've come to the right place. We have a built-in internal search engine to find what information you might need, not some flash enabled site that is all looks and no substance.
If you're tired of people and organizations who claim to help you, but don't, then join us and together we'll stop this nonsense.
Join us and help us to help others. It's up to you!
To Join Californians Injured At Work, CLICK HERE!
To Help Support Californians Injured At Work, CLICK HERE!
The Courts of Appeal are now starting to hear cases which deal with these very issues!
This piece was originally shown on the 10 O'Clock news on Thanksgiving night.
Click on the picture below for the video.
You heard right! FREE with no strings! Californians Injured At Work, one of California's largest and oldest injured worker advocacy organizations wants to give you a free WordPress Blog to use to tell your California Workers Compensation Horror Story. You've probably already found out by now that no one in mainstream media wants to hear your tale of fraud & corruption committed against you by your employer and his Workers Compensation insurance carrier. We do, and we'll give you a blog in cyberspace to do it with. You're responsible for the content and we'll send the media over here to read your stories. We may even consider your story for inclusion in a segment of the "Injured On The Job" television program (www.injuredonthejob.tv), the only regularly scheduled television program in California that deals with the issues facing injured workers in today's California. Just a few simple rules:
WordPress is very powerful and comes with easy to understand documentation! It's themes and other available accessories are supported by a large worldwide community. Go to www.injuredworkerhorrorstories.com for more information.
By Thomas Gangale
Mark Twain once said, "Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself."
Are politicians really idiots? In order to prove that proposition, one would have to subject a statistically significant sample of them to IQ tests, and of course, they would have to be idiots to comply with such a testing program. It is better to be thought a fool than to be proven one.
But they really do appear to be idiots. Write a letter to one sometime and see if you get a response. Chances are you won't, but if it's your lucky day, you'll receive a bland acknowledgement that in no way addresses the issue you raised in your letter. In fact, you'll wonder whether they actually wrote to you or they mis-addressed their unresponsive response that was intended for some other hapless constituent.
A former Senator, cabinet secretary, and national party chair once chided me, "Do you really think people read their mail?" Stupid me! No, I think their staffers read only enough to figure out what the issue is according to some vague metric, then they weigh all the letters they receive about that issue on a postal scale. Below a certain weight threshold, it's not an important enough issue, so they do nothing.
Now, repeat the experiment. Write another letter, but this time include a $2000 check. Of course, the change in response isn't proof of intelligence... even a plant turns toward the sun.
The tragedy is that most politicians start out as moderately intelligent, well-intentioned people. Then they get into power, and over the years they have less and less contact with their constituents and more and more contact with big donors, lobbyists, fellow politicians, and staffers. They forget that they were once constituents themselves.
The arrogance of entrenched power seduces them into a belief in their own omniscience and that of the others in the "in" crowd. But in this closed-loop information system, the same old stale ideas get passed around and around, and through this process of increasing insularity, the best and brightest degenerate into idiocy. There is no better evidence of the unintelligent design of the universe than the devolution of politicians.
But we can reverse devolution. We can turn unintelligent design into intelligent design. We can be the evolutionary force that transforms politicians.
Write your politicians. If they don't write you back, write them off, and write yourself in at election time. This will accomplish several things.
First of all, you can be confident about your choice. When you vote for yourself, you know you're not voting for an idiot.
Second, although you won't win office, you'll take market share from the professional politicians. They'll really hate that. No politician wants to be forced into a run-off election. And, suppose neither runoff candidate wins a majority. You can make this happen simply by voting for yourself again and again. Your victory is to deny them victory. Your power is in disempowering the powerful.
Third, the more who people write themselves in, the more it will stuff up the electoral system. Election officials have to count each write-in ballot by hand. Each election could take weeks to sort out. If you don't like the two-party machine, throw sand in the gears until it grinds to a halt.
Finally, the cumulative effect of all of this will be to transmit a loud and clear message of voter disgust over politics as usual.
Let's retire these 20th century dinosaurs. Either transform them back into constituents, or force them to evolve into more nimble and more responsive life-forms for the 21st century. In the long run, you'll be doing them a favor. After all, no one wants to be an idiot.
Thomas Gangale is an aerospace engineer and a former Air Force officer. He is currently the executive director at OPS-Alaska, a think tank based in Petaluma, where he manages projects in political science and international relations. He is the author of From the Primaries to the Polls: How to Repair America's Broken Presidential Nomination Process.
 CIAW Members Working To Bring Attention To The Issues!
The decision by the First Appellate District this week, certified for publication, in the case of injured worker and Californians Injured At Work member Anita Blick is a significant victory for injured workers everywhere. It is a shining example of the fact that our system of justice, although it may be flawed and compromised by those powerful interests with buckets of money willing to prostitute their reputations to make injured workers everywhere look like thieves, a fact that is simply not true, sometimes works the way it was intended to.
It's All ABout Public Perception
The Evil Empire Simply put the Chamber of Commerce is about money and power, and they wield alot of it and are very influential in this state. Just look at the governor. He believes the line of crap that they are consistently handing him. But then he'll believe anything as long as a campaign contribution is enclosed.
OK, Where's The Fraud? But most of that money goes to aid the prosecution of injured worker and employer fraud. We still have yet to see a case where an insurance carrier has been convicted of fraud. Why is that? Why don't District Attorneys pursue those cases when they are brought to their attention and WE DO KNOW that these cases are brought to their attention. Simply put, there's no money in prosecuting insurance companies and these DA's certainly are not going to bite the hand that feeds them! But if any of those cases resemble the travesty of justice that was the prosecution of Mrs. Blick, then we're in real trouble. It cost Mrs. Blick $150,000 plus and she still isn't out of the woods yet. What if she didn't have the resources to hire a defense attorney or for that matter an attorney to handle her appeal. Where would she be? How many other injured workers have been unjustly accused and railraoded into a conviction. There is something radically wrong with our justice system if this kind of nonsense becomes the norm.
The Legislative Process
Stop Pussyfooting Around
You Can Do Your Part & Help We need your help. We need your funding, but only if you can afford it, and we need your participation. We are an educational organization that serves in the public interest, (501(c)(3) tax status is pending. When complete, contributions ARE tax deductable. Make no mistake, we're not like Voters Injured At Work (they are a political organization bankrolled by the California Applicants Attorneys Association) and we don't go chasing after legislators to pass bills that have absolutely no hope of ever being passed into law. That is nothing but a waste of time. What we do is to create our own media to get the truth out the the people who can make a difference and effect a solution to the War Aginst Injured Workers that our governor and his Chamber of Commerce buddies are waging. We can educate you and you families on how NOT to become victims of the insurance industry. Knowledge is POWER! This is the 21st century and we as injured workers need to use 21st century technology to get this very important message out there. Californians need to see the faces of those affected by this so-called reform, and passing out pieces of paper with these stories on them just doesn't cut the mustard. You have to "GET INTO PEOPLE'S FACES!" You have to get into their living rooms. That's what it takes. If you are interested in supporting our efforts to educate Californians about this travesty of justice, please contact us at donations@ciaw.org Click on the Paypal button below and you can support Californians Injured At Work with your Visa. Mastercard, Discover or American Express card thru PayPal, our official online payments processor; it's fast, free and secure!
The Choice Is Yours We're here to help, and together we CAN make a difference.
Yesterday, the California Court Of Appeals, First Appellate District, Division Three, issued a decision certified for publication, in the case of Californians Injured At Work member and former Atherton Township Police Department Dispatcher Anita Blick, vacating the conviction that the San Mateo County District Attorney won against her for a violation of Penal Code 550(b)(3), a most ambiguous piece of law at that, in a trial that more resembled a Kangaroo Court and lasted five weeks. She was forced to serve 60 days of a 90 day sentence in solitary confinement in the San Mateo County jail and they still admitted that she was injured!
Above, is a picture of Mrs. Blick when she appeared on the John Rothmann show on KGO Newstalk Radio 810 and told her story of fraud and corruption committed against her by the Town of Atherton, the San Mateo County District Attorneys Office and the Cities Group, the insurer of the Township of Atherton and all municipalities in San Mateo County.
This is just another way that Californians Injured At Work helps their own.
If you go to the main page of this website and click on the big banner to take you to the web site search engine, you will find stories that we have done about Mrs. Blick including radio and television appearances in streaming audio & video.
This is a spectacular victory for injured workers all over California who have been falsely accused of Workers Compensation fraud. This legal ploy can no longer be used against an injured worker in this judicial district! It goes to show you that the law works in mysterious ways and sometimes, just sometimes, the checks and balances of the law work.
The legal issue at hand in the appeal was "Does an act of fraud require specific intent?" Putting it a bit simpler, was the District Attorney required to prove that she was in a culpable state of mind when she is alleged to have committed this offense?
J. Courtney Shevelson Esq., of Carmel, her appeals attorney said that the issue became how could insurance claimants be held criminally liable if they don't know they have a duty to do more than they've done.
"That was the problem with Mrs. Blick. She had reported improvement over the course of years," he said.
"Misrepresentations have to be accompanied by an intent to defraud. In this country we punish people for a criminal act, not for a sin of omission," he stressed.
The court reviewed the statute and concluded: "In short, the person must intend to commit a fraud."
In 1994 Mrs. Blick fell during her normal shift as a dispatcher at the Atherton Township Police Department as she was running to answer the 911 telephone that was not supposed to ring more thasn 3 times without being answered.
A complaint filed on March 24, 2005, charged Blick as follows:
Count 1 - Making a knowingly false or fraudulent material statement or representation for
the purpose of obtaining compensation, in violation of Insurance Code section 1871.4,
subdivision (a)(1);
The Township of Atherton and the Cities Group were unable to get convictions of the first 2 counts but were able to persuade the judge to find her guilty of the 3rd count.
It should be noted that the Cities Group was found to have violated Mrs. Blick's rights under the law in that they never notified Mrs. Blick that she was eligible for vocational rehabilitation under the California Labor Code, they underpaid her Total Temporary Disability and they illegally terminated her Total Temporary Disability without just cause.
The TTD issues went before the California State Supreme Court and a judgement was handed down in Mrs. Blick's favor approximately a month before the Cities Group made the decision to prosecute her on these spurious charges. Mrs. Blick vocationally rehabilitated herself successfully as a phlebotomist when it was obvious that she could no longer handle her job as a dispatcher at the Police Department.
This is not the first time a Workers Compensation insurer has filed phony charges against an injured worker once they have been caught with their pants down. It seems like it is a very common occurrence around the state. and you thought that the District Attorney was there to protect your rights! Wrong again!
What many people don't know is that District Attorneys around the state are paid to go after injured workers in cases of fraud. The money is dispersed every year by the Department of Insurance's Fraud Assessment Commission, to DA's from all around the state. It seems the more successful prosecutions they get, the more money they get!
You have probably never heard of a District Attorney prosecuting a insurance company for fraud because there is simply no money in it for them to go after the hand that feeds them, even though hundreds of these cases are reported to DA's every year. They seem to hit the round file before anyone's eye ever see them.
If that isn't a big conflict of interests, I don't know what is. And life goes on. And good people are persecuted by these vicious predators. And those whose job it is to protect us simply look the other way and count the money that Steve Poizner's commission hands out to them.
It should be noted that this appeals process and the defense of her against these totally bogus charges cost her over $150,000 plus out of her own pocket and forced her to take out a mortgage on her house. What if she were unable to afford a defense attorney and had relied on a public defender to represent her? Scary thought, isn't it.
So what does winning the appeal give her; simply a new trial. Question is, is the county going to attempt to retry her now that the legal premise of specific intent is forever changed in this particular judicial district and no longer usable.
Are they going to want the issues of perjury committed by representatives of the Cities Group and the Assistant District Attorney to be allowed into evidence at a new trial or are they going to do damage control and try to settle civil damages that I'm sure Mrs. Blick is going to bring against them in the very near future?
A great debt of gratitude goes to applicant's attorney Robert Bledsoe, Esq. of San Jose, CA, a member of the California Applicant's Attorneys Association, who has been representing Mrs. Blick thoughout this whole process since 1994 and still has yet to see one cent from this case. Also to Joseph Courtney Shevelson, Esq. of Carmel, CA, her appeals attorney.
Well, they have a little over a month to appeal the court's vacating of the judgement and we are informed that the decision was unanimous. We shall see won't we.
To read the notice to vacate judgement, CLICK HERE. Check it out. It's great reading even if you're not a lawyer.
June 29, 2007 As the agent provocateur of modern cinema, Moore is a moving target. Three of his docs (Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11) had the bad taste to be box-office hits instead of slouching quietly to oblivion like most documentaries. Look for the reform spirit of Sicko to spark fresh attacks from haters who smear Moore as a fat, shambling, condescending grandstander eager to shade the truth to force a laugh or simplify an issue. Back off, guys. For one thing, he's dieting. For another, Sicko is a movie whose time has come, even if the Treasury Department is already on his case for illegally taking a boatload of lung-sick 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba for free medical care they can't get at home. Another dumb move from the Dubya camp. While political candidates sidestep the real health-care issues, like puppets of the pharmaceutical and health care industries that finance their election campaigns (take that, Hillary!), Moore brings a blunt clarity to the table. In an era when the mainstream news media have lost the public trust to Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, Moore's brutally comic take on matters of life and death is just the ticket. To prep for the film, Moore used the Internet to solicit health-care horror stories, not just from the 47 million Americans who don't have insurance but from those who do. It's hair-raising, especially when we watch an L.A. hospital dump a dazed patient at a homeless shelter because her insurance has reached its cap. In France, no resident is denied care; that's why the World Health Organization ranks it number one (the U.S. is thirty-seventh). Moore, who shot 500 hours of film that he had to whittle down to two, puts a human face on those statistics. He traces the privatized health system back to Nixon, who figured, "The less care they give them, the more money they make." He got that right. Does Moore cut a few corners? Sure. Some of the European hospitals he visits might be spiffing up for the camera. The drugs an American patient buys in Havana (five cents there, $120 at home) might not be up to FDA standards. And maybe the French are pushing it by doing a patient's laundry. But the weight of evidence Moore marshals for taking the profit motive out of medicine is overwhelming. In a summer of dumb, shameless drivel, Moore delivers a movie of robust mind and heart. You'll laugh till it hurts. Only when you see the difficulties that normal Americans have getting competent health care do you understand what is wrong with our state Workers Compensation system. The solution? Get the insurance companies out of the Workers Compensation business! How are you going to get any decent level of care from those who care more about their profits than the condition of the injured workers that they are mandated to take care of?
Note to Arnold:
The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules... And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing that you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race, forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do. Think Different! Watch the "Think Different" Video.......
I guess we're the crazy ones, the ones who aren't afraid of the insurance companies.....or the state bureaucrats who pimp and pander for the governor's interests.
It has been alleged that injured workers have been threatened by Gallagher-Bassett Services Claims Administrators, if they don't terminate their Workers Compensation claims. This type of behavior is not only illegal, but unconscionable! The questionable claims handling practices of this third-party administrator for large, permissively self-insured employers, and their blatant refusal to provide medical treatment to injured employees in desperate medical situations, allegedly has been the proximate cause of at least 2 suicides of injured workers in California!
Some Gallagher-Bassett Services employer clients are United Airlines, McDonalds Corp., Waste Management Inc., Thyssen-Krupp Elevators to name a few.
"Injured On The Job," the only regularly scheduled television show in California that exposes the fraud & corruption perpetrated by insurers, intends to do a future show segment detailing these activities. If you think that your Workers Compensation case meets this criteria, please contact our segment producers at iwvideo@yahoo.com.
January 17, 2007
Californians Injured At Work members met with newly elected California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and members of his executive legal staff in Sacramento this morning to discuss issues facing California's injured workers post SB899. One of the key points brought up by director Sam Gold, was the issue of fraud perpetrated by Workers Compensation insurance carriers and their attorneys against injured workers and why these numerous complaints were not being prosecuted by the fraud investigation unit of the Department of Insurance. Commissioner Poizner has made reducing insurance fraud a high priority during his term. Other members of his legal staff also participated by teleconference.
Labor activist and CIAW board member and CCWMD chair Steve Zeltzer brought to their attention the cost-shifting that is occurring when medical subsidies such as Medi-Cal and Medi-Care are forced to take care of injured workers' occupational injuries due to the refusal of insurers to comply with constitutional and legislative mandate.
Injured worker Joe Dow explained how he was injured at Lowes Home Improvment Centers and their ongoing campaign to discredit him. Also in attendance were April Gottman and Lloyd Kennedy.
Commissioner Poizner is a multi-millionaire in his own right, who used much of his own money to finance his campaign for insurance commissioner as he did in 2004 in his unsuccessful bid for the Assembly. He appears to be in politics to make a difference, not a million, as many others seem to be. Prior to his political career, he worked in Silicon Valley as a high tech entrepreneur; founding both SnapTrak, Inc and Strategic Mapping, Inc., which deal with GPS location technology. He was a White House fellow in 2001-2002 (One of twelve fellows selected for this highly competitive and respected non-partisan program). He was selected out of a pool of 1000 candidates.
If you have documentary evidence that you have experienced an occurrence of Workers Compensation fraud perpetrated against you by an insurance company, their agents or their counsel, we want to know about it, so that we may bring your case to the commissioner's attention. Contact us at wcfraud@ciaw.org.
by Sam Gold
Sam Gold is a qualified injured worker and volunteer director of Californans Injured At Work, (www.ciaw.org) one of the oldest and largest injured worker advocacy organizations in California. He helps to produce the only television program in the country, Injured On The Job, located on the web and streamed at (www.injuredonthejob.tv) dedicated to exposing the white collar fraud and corruption in California's Workers Compensation system.
Workers Compensation; it's all about insurance industry money, and what it will buy, and it's already started in Ohio. It's just a matter of time before the kinds of bad decisions that Ohio Workers Compensation judges just handed down, are the norm here in California with Governor Arnold's help, and support from his friends at the California Chambers of Commerce!
The California Chamber of Commerce exists to suppress most progressive legislation in our State. Using the title "Job Killer" as a political wedge issue, the Chamber continuously challenges ALL bills designed to improve labor law, environmental protection, tort reform, landlord/tenant law, consumer protection, and insurance reform.
Apparently, members of the Chamber do not work for anyone, live in glass houses away from the environment, never need to sue others, own their own homes, purchase goods and services elsewhere, and have no need for insurance due to their excessive wealth.
An injured teenager at a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise was denied his benefits, because as the courts say "His injury was his own fault"!
The whole premise of today's Workers' Compensation system is that "No One Is At Fault!" It's a "No Fault" system, or that's what we are led to believe. Start messing with that premise, and the whole system will begin to unravel, quickly I might add. The court challenges will start backing up our legal system and where it will end, frankly no one knows.
In an oped piece on November 18, 2006, David DePaolo, a defense attorney and president & CEO of workcompcentral.com, the top Workers' Compensation information resource on the internet, published an oped piece called "Workers Compensation Fraud: Stop The Hypocrisy." In it he said "It seems that fraud and workers' compensation just belong together. The sad part is that those who commit the most heinous criminal acts and cause the greatest civil damage always seem to be just out of reach of the "long arm of the law." What's worse, is that we as an industry not only seem ambivalent towards this criminal behavior, some even seem to condone it!"
Now those are some very strong words, but if you are an applicants' attorney, an injured worker or the family member of an injured worker, you know precisely of what he speaks about. Big money has taken over this system that was supposed to help those injured at work, return to work. It has convoluted and bastardized this system that was created by then Governor Hiram Johnson and his progressive allies at the dawn of the industrialization of our country.
Just look at what happened at Christmas when newly re-elected Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger broke his leg while skiing in Idaho. (He's a real supporter of the California Ski Industry isn't he?) Just think what would have happened if he had broken it at work. He certainly wouldn't have gotten the surgery to repair the fracture within 7 days. The company doctors in The State of California's Medical Provider Network would have said there is nothing wrong with your leg, it's all in your head, because they want repeat business from the state.
It might have gone to Utilization Review, to a med-legal evaluation doctor who was 8 states away, never examined the governor's leg and hasn't actually treated a patient in years, who simply had a paucity of medical documentation provided by the insurer and denied surgery based on a lack of documentation. (This happens to injured workers every day!)
On the other hand, his personal physician would have looked at the X-Rays and would have pointed out the break as clear as the light of day and then the legal battles would have ensued. And maybe nine months to a year later, after a protracted legal battle, he might have gotten that authorization, but only after the leg healed in a deformed and disfigured position, which would necessitate re-breaking of the leg to repair it properly.
If the Governor's injury was rated using the insurance industry's Apportionment to Causation argument which is their latest insurance industry scam, the Governor wouldn't get a thin dime for his injury because his bones were made brittle by all those steriods he took as a bodybuilder and the marijuana he smoked during the filming of "Pumping Iron"!
Good working men and women in this state are dying and committing suicide because as Mr. DePaolo points out, the real criminals in this system, those insurance executives who are creating policy in their companies that violate the letter and spirit of the laws that were created to protect California's occupationally injured, are simply not being held accountable for their actions. They hide under the umbrella of "The Exclusive Remedy" which they seem to think indemnify them from all crimes under the sun, especially criminal acts that they commit "post injury." Ask any injured worker, he or she will tell you all about it.
"Why aren't these people being brought to justice," you ask. Simply put, these white collar insurance criminals have the financial resources to buy anything and anybody, just look at our governor who is constantly on the receiving end of their financial gratitude. They don't give him this money because he has a pretty face, they give it to him for the influence that it buys them in our government!
And you thought Payola was dead; guess what, it's alive and well in Sacramento. Paying off a disk jockey to play your client's record, or paying off a state legislator to vote for or against a bill. It's against the very fabric that we stand for. There's really no difference.
Applicants' attorneys, those who represent injured workers, have been attacked in their pocketbooks by the langauge of 2004's SB899, due to the slashing of permanent disability benefits which is how they are paid, a 10-15% fee liened against their client's awards. Defense attorneys, who represent the insurance companies on the other hand, run a veritable taxi meter, billing their clients for everything under the sun, one hour at a time.
This playing field has to be leveled or there will never be any truth and justice nor fairness or equity in this system. If applicants' attorneys are not reasonably paid for their services, they will have no incentive to represent occupationally injured workers and those injured workers will be the ones who suffer because they cannot get good reliable legal representation in a highly complex legal system.
If those in state government who are responsible for enforcing our present laws that are supposed to protect working Californians don't step up to the plate and start doing their jobs, maybe it's time to throw the present system out and let the tort wars begin. Maybe when the smoke clears we'll have a system that will work equally for both sides.
Political Realities
A few months ago we went to his campaign people with a couple of sure-fire ads guaranteed to bring attention to the fact that the Governor had turned his back on the working people of California. They said "we'll get back to you." Guess what, they never did! Nowhere did you see any media about the blow that Arnold Schwarzenegger dealt to injured workers back in 2004. Why not!
These days, the political battles are fought on television. That's why we're there with "Injured On The Job!" People, stop, look and listen. Unless you bring these matters to the attention of the electorate, they think everything is just plain hunky-dory. Political strategists would say; "Attack the opponent on what he claims are his strengths!" In this case his sole claim to fame, that he supposedly reformed the California Workers Compensation system.
Common sense says if you want to know what's wrong with the Workers Compensation system, ask an injured worker. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Oh, wait a minute, that would be too easy! Maybe we do need some rocket scientists to run for office.
It was definitely a pleasing sight to see that Senator Chuck Poochigian, the author of the worst and most poorly written piece of legislation ever to pass through our legislature in it's history, SB899, was sent with his bags packing back to Fresno where he belongs, having been beaten by former Governor Jerry Brown for Attorney General.
And the election of Republican Steve Poizner to the office of Insurance Commissioner. Will he truly ride herd on these crooked and greedy insurance companies or is he just another Schwarzenegger lackey? Time Will Tell......
The blind leading the blind
Voters Injured At Work seems to think that the world of injured worker advocacy revolves around their planet. They don't want you to know that there has been an organization around long before they were ever in existence, that actually helps the occupationally injured deal with their injuries.
Voters Injured At Work is simply a political organization created in January 2005 with financial assistance from the California Applicants Attorneys Association, and political organizations are simply about 2 things; money and power. They want the power and want to get it with your money, plain and simple. Whether they help the occupationally injured or not; we certainly haven't been able to find one member who could honestly say that they did. Had it not been for the Applicants' Attorneys membership mass mailing their clients with information urging them to join Voters Injured At Work, they would probably not have very many members to this day.
For a political organization who claims to be there, working for you, VIAW couldn't even call this election. Their web blog still refers to Phil Angelides as the next governor of California. Phil and his media people chose not to use the issue of what is happening to Californias occupationally disabled in their TV ads. Big mistake Phil! Californians Injured At Work called the results well over a month ago and we were right on the the nose! What is VIAW going to do for you now? The crewmen are abandoning the SS VIAW, and it's about to sink.
And now, former Executive Director & consultant Peggy Sugarman is now gone from VIAW, having taken a position with a leading statewide defense law firm. She WAS Voters Injured At Work. Now that she is gone, will the present board of directors be able to hold the group together. What do they have to offer the injured worker any more?
Their kind of mindset just doesn't get things accomplished. We all have to work together. We have been around since 2002 helping bring injured workers together, and hope to be around for many more years. We are truly advocates for the injured worker and are here to help and assist the injured worker in any way we can, whether it be information via our television program, "Injured On The Job," or help or simply assisting you in finding legal representation when your attorney no longer will help you. So everybody is back to square one on the issue of fixing the problems caused by the Insurance Industry Profit Reform Bill of 2004, SB899!
You have to ask yourself, what have they to offer you as an injured worker? If you join, where is your money going? Can you see it at work? Very important questions that should be answered. The choice is up to you. Make it very wisely!
When injured workers are unjustly accused of insurance fraud by overzealous District Attorneys, who is there to help them, support them and if necessary bring attention to their plight? Certainly not Voters Injured At Work, that's for sure. If you're an injured worker in California, then you already know about the graft, fraud and corruption that makes life difficult for us all. Do you ever hear Voters Injured At Work even mention one word about that. Of course not. Did you ever ask yourself why not?
The last thing injured workers need right now is another political organization taking money from them! They need help and they need it now, especially with our Governor giving away the keys to the castle for some hefty campaign contributions. Injured workers deserve to be protected from those bearing false promises of help in exchange for financial contributions. Quid pro quo is what you're looking for; Something for something!
Help us help others
Until the makeup of the legislature changes to the point where we they can override the Governor's veto, no bills will be passed to benefit the Working Californian; not a fix to the perpetually broken Workers Compensation system, and no single payer health care for all Californians.
Why didn't the Governor sign either of these bills when they came to his desk? That's simple. Passage of Senator Sheila Kuehl's SB840, would have eliminated the insurance industry as the middleman in California's multi-billion dollar health care business, costing them hundreds of billion of dollars in pure profit.
Passage of SB815 would have helped injured workers by increasing the amount of permanent diability that an injured worker gets if he is unable to compete in the labor market. And all the begging and pleading to do the right thing and pass those bills, simply fell on deaf ears. He's not interested in helping those who elected him, he's after all that special interest money that they keep tossing at him, and he keeps raking in.
So you lose your leg and they give you a paltry $10,000 to compensate you for the rest of your life. Doesn't seem very fair does it. Understand this, the insurance industry and their money have a VERY LOUD voice in Sacramento. They have a very extensive media budget which they use to spread their mis-information to the media. Many injured workers have emailed the San Francisco Chronicle over a story that appeared recently stating that the profits and savings from SB899 were simply stunning.
Of course they are. You stop paying claims and you'll save a whole bundle of money. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Injured Workers have their own media voice and it's been around for almost 2 years. It is produced by Californians Injured At Work, Inc., an educational non-profit corporation that operates this website. It's known as "Injured On The Job." And it's YOUR show not ours. It exists for you, the injured worker. Every injured worker wants to tell his story of horror and IOTJ is the place to do it.
Our network of Public Access cable channels is growing every day and it doesn't cost a cent to sponsor this great show, if you wish to, in your town. It is also webcast on the internet at www.injuredonthejob.tv. It is a state of the art production taped monthly in San Francisco. Our website also has made-for-the-web video programming as well. It takes 21st century methods to counteract the insurance industry efforts to spread mis-information.
What can you do to help, you ask?
It also costs money to run this full-featured web site. It's not a glorified blog. It's easy to navigate. It is an excellent information resource and is here to keep you abreast of the latest breaking news about Workers Compensation. It is rich in streaming video content produced by our own people. We also create documentaries for your information and enjoyment. Again, that costs money and now we're counting on you.
We need your financial help. We need your money to keep these resources available to all Californians. Our 501(c)3 tax exempt status is pending. Once in place, we will be able to give you an IRS tax write-off in exchange for any support or underwriting help that you extend to us. Injured workers need your help. Our governor has turned his back on them. Their stories of horror have to get out for all Californians to see. Where else can you actually see your money at work? Help us help injured workers. It's up to you.
Our address is P.O. Box 292454, Sacramento, CA 95829-2454. We are Californians Injured At Work.
Below is a Paypal button, should you wish to use a credit or debit card on their secure website. We don't waste our time with chasing after politicians. You've seen where all that effort gets you. NO WHERE..... And we're not afraid to get in the faces of these white collar crooks who think that they can buy anybody off! The answer is a ballot initiative, the Injured Workers Bill Of Rights. When you see it, support it! The governor and his buddies can't mess with an initiative set in stone. Let's deliver our own message to those Sacramento politicians who turn their backs on working Californians, and give them a resounding thumbs down!
Click on the "PayPal Logo" below to use your Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express card.
Does Your Case Deserve Television Media Attention? Have You Been Stiffed By Your Workers Compensation Insurance Carrier
Going begging to state legislators to change the laws isn't the solution. We've been there.... We've done that!.... It didn't work.....Many of these legislators ARE the problem! Except for a dozen and a half or so honest ones, for the most part they ignore the wants and needs of their constituents and follow party lines and most importantly follow the money trail of industry lobbyists. Special interest money has a VERY loud voice in Sacramento! In the 21st century, you have to fight fire with fire; the insurance companies, the governor, their lobbyists and PR spin doctors use the television medium to disseminate false information, so why shouldn't injured workers use it to simply tell the truth to Californans who can make all the difference at the polls, about what's really going on in this state. Placing a Workers Comp horror story on a website simply doesn't cut the mustard especially when nobody reads them. You have to get in people's face, or no one will listen. You HAVE to control the message that Californians hear. That's what we do. We are injured workers like you and we are building an injured workers television network all over the State of California. We'll bring you the latest news and information about what's going on in workers Comp around the state and we won't keep you in the dark about what's really going on, like others in this state who claim to advocate for injured workers do. We are going to put "Injured On The Job" in public and community access cable stations all over the state. Contact the Injured On The Job producers at 916 290-7573 for more information on how you can get your story told. If you want to help financially, we welcome your participation. You'll be part of a movement that will be unstoppable. YOU CAN SEE YOUR MONEY AT WORK each month. Californians Injured At Work (CIAW), was formerly known as the California Injured Workers Coalition, one of the oldest and largest injured workers advocacy organizations in California. We produce and sponsor the "Injured On The Job" television show which is the only television show in California devoted to exposing the rampant fraud and corruption in California's Workers' Compensation system. It exists to educate you, the injured worker. It exists to inform you, the injured worker. It exists to empower you, the injured worker. Sponsor it on the Public Access cable channel in your town or city. It doesn't cost a cent. Then you'll have YOUR OWN media channel.
If you can, help support our television program "Injured On The Job" which is being carried by Public & Community Access Cable
television stations around the state. Our goal is to saturate the state with this program, but it takes money to cover all of the production costs which are now being borne by a few select individuals.
This is one place where you can see where your money goes, and you can certainly see your money at work. For more information
go to www.injuredonthejob.tv, and watch our programs which are also streamed on the internet for those who don't have cable.
Join us and help us deliver the real truth to the people of California!
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is the voice of injured workers on television around the state. For more information on how you can help support our programming Click Here!!
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Hostile to Physicians; Harmful To Patients. Workers Comp Reform??? FOR ALL INJURED WORKERS TO READ Click above!! 
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 CIAW's Insurance Fraud Investigator Helps KOVR CBS13 Show You Just How Far The Insurance Companies Will Go To Deny Claims. Click above!!
 An Insurance Fraud Investigator Spills The Beans & Opens Up & Tells His Story! Click above!!
 A Southern California attorney Files a Class Action lawsuit against several of the largest Workers Compensation Insurers in California. Click above!!
 2007 Workers Memorial Day rally on the South steps of the state capitol. Saturday April 28, 2007. Click above!!  David DePaolo, president and CEO of Workcompcentral.com, speaks out about white collar Workers Compensation Fraud! Click above!!  Scott Hayes, California Injured Workers Coalition Founding Member Passes Away. Click above!! 
What If Governor Arnold Broke That Femur At Work?! 
Putting A Price Tag On Fixing Schwarzenegger's Broken Leg. 
Court Rules Against Injured Worker - Employee Fired For Causing Own Injury Can Be Denied Benefits, Justices Say.
Click above!! 
Author Lisa Cullen writes that legalities, politics and money have overridden the human rights issue of worker health and safety. Worker health and safety is becoming nothing more than a business line item. Click above!! 
Maine Man Trapped By Lobsters In Workers Compensation Fraud Case. Fibbing about fishing while collecting workers compensation benefits lands frauder in jail. Click above!! |
