When you’re injured at work, you shouldn’t have to worry about the funds meant to care for your needs being cut off for no reason. If you find yourself fighting just to survive on the money you receive for disability benefits even though you’re meant to get paid from an insurance company, you may be in a position like this family. According to the Aug. 1 news, the young man was 24 at the time of the accident that caused his disability. He had been working as an electrician when he was injured. He was working at a bank that was under construction when he was electrocuted by a high-voltage shock.
Although he spent nearly a month in a coma, he’s alive. At age 34, he is completely disabled. He no longer is able to bathe, dress, or speak for himself. He can’t walk, so he gets around in a wheelchair. His father says his son has to use a diaper for incontinence.
The company that provided insurance to the man’s employer, Ohio Casualty, said it was going to provide for the young man through workers’ compensation. All his medical and home health care aides’ bills were to be paid. Suddenly, in 2014, those payments stopped, making his father tap into the benefits checks he’d been saving for his son. He was saving the money for future care, but that strategy didn’t help when the bills stopped getting paid. Without the insurance compensation, the savings was spent quickly.
What’s most interesting is that the court had previously ordered the company to provide a wheelchair to the man after it delayed and delivered the wrong one; the insurance company ended up paying sanctions over its failures. The man’s father spent many days in the court room, but some good news comes at the end of the article; with litigation and ongoing questioning of the company’s policies and procedures, he finally was reimbursed the funds he had to spend. At least for now, the insurance company is complying with the court’s order to pay.
Source: NJ.com, “Bamboozled: Dad fights insurance company for son’s medical care,” Karin Price Mueller, accessed Aug. 02, 2016