Dianne Ellis
Have you suffered an injury at work that has left you unable to return to work? This means that you will likely qualify for workers compensation. Here are the types of benefits you can expect to receive.
Medical Benefits
One of the reasons that workers compensation exists is so that employees do not need to pay any of the medical costs related to their workplace injury. Thankfully, workers compensation will cover all of your work related injury bills as long as it is treated by an approved doctor.
Why do you have to use an approved doctor? Think of using workers compensation as a completely different type of health insurance. There is a network of approved doctors that you can go to where your medical needs will be covered, and if you go out of network you will need to pay for it on your own. The same rules apply to workers compensation insurance. Since you are not using your personal insurance to pay for the medical bills yourself, you must use the network of doctors that are covered under workers compensation insurance.
In addition, all of your non-medical bills related to the injury can also be covered by workers compensation. This includes mileage on your personal vehicle to get to and from doctor's appointments, durable medical goods that are needed for your recovery, and medication costs.
Wage Benefits
If you are completely unable to work due to your workplace-related injury, you are entitled to receive partial wages while you are recovering. Your state laws will dictate what percentage of your wages you are entitled to, and those wage benefits will continue until you are cleared for work by your doctor.
You are also entitled to lost wages from days that you need to take off for medical appointments related to your workplace injury. Even if you have sick days and personal days, you shouldn't have to use them for the days that you missed work to treat your workplace-related injury.
Permanent Partial Disability Benefits
You will also receive benefits if you have any type of disability that ends up being permanent. Every disability is given a disability rating, which is used to calculate how much of a permanent partial disability benefit you will receive. Since you cannot receive pain and suffering damages, your permanent partial disability benefits are the way to receive compensation for the long-term effects of dealing with the injury.
For more information, contact a workers compensation lawyer near you.
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