Colorado Workers’ Compensation Payments Go Digital
In less than a year, Pinnacol Assurance has managed to move more than two-thirds of injured workers into a direct deposit system for workers’ compensation claims.
Pinnacol, Colorado’s workers’ compensation insurer of last resort, rolled out direct deposit wage replacement for injured employees. Now roughly 70 percent of their clients have enrolled in the program, which expedites payments while saving the carrier thousands in administrative costs.
Colorado is one of a handful of states that have begun experimenting with electronic workers’ compensation payments, including Kentucky and South Carolina. New Hampshire legislators are also working on a plan of their own.
If you have been injured on the job and are struggling to make ends meet, get in touch with a Colorado workers’ compensation attorney so we can help answer your questions.
Benefits of Direct Deposit
According to Pinnacol, there are several benefits to moving injured workers to direct deposit, such as:
- Automated payments allow injured employees to worry less about paying their bills and focus on getting better.
- Less financial stress means a more positive frame of mind, which can speed an injured worker’s recovery and return to work.
- Injured workers who choose Pinnacol’s direct deposit option no longer wait for checks to arrive, deposit, and clear.
- There is no chance of a check getting lost in the mail and the accompanying hassle of notarizing and returning paperwork.
- They no longer need to contact Pinnacol about where to mail checks as they journey from hospital to inpatient rehabilitation to home.
Pinnacol reports savings of more than $100,000 since June, but that is not the only good news. In November, the insurance company approved a 7.4 percent decrease in workers’ compensation rates that went live January 1, 2018. It is the third straight rate drop for the insurer’s more than 57,000 clients. While that is good news for Pinnacol our concern is that a significant portion of the savings realized by Pinnacol is based on fewer benefits being paid to injured workers, more medical treatment being contested or denied, and fewer physicians or private clinics available to treat injured workers. If you feel that the physician assigned to you by the employer is not properly treating your injury you need to talk to an attorney about options you may have to change physicians or go to an independent medical exam.
Colorado’s workers’ compensation law is extremely complex and requires an expert to help navigate it. If you need help sorting through your workers’ compensation claim and have questions, contact a workers’ compensation lawyer at Burg Simpson’s Colorado office before it is too late. Call us today at 303-792-5595 or fill out our Free Case Evaluation form here so we can evaluate your claim with you.
