Reducing Premiums (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1 )
or that we know occurred.” A big reason that claims haven’t mushroomed is that most employers have gone out of their way to protect their employees. And many employees are still working from home, reducing their chances of exposure. “Most employ- ees are covered by some form of health insurance so even if they can’t establish that it happened at work, they’re still covered,” said Free. Another plus: Claims to date have not been all that costly. “The average cost on COVID claims is less than $5,000,” says Dennis Tierney, National Director of Work- ers’ Compensation Claims for Marsh, the insurance broker and risk advisor. “In contrast, the average cost for a typical workers’ comp claim—combining medical and lost time— is about $20,000.” It remains to be seen what the effect of costly COVID hospitalizations will be, he adds. Recent- ly, hospitalizations were running at five percent of cases, but 20 percent of that five percent took place in ICUs with costly 12-day average stays. Mental Health COVID has led to other social conditions that affect workers’ comp. Among them is mental distress. Sieberg points out that some states have started to add workers’ comp coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder on the part of employees who were put into work environments that were never expected to be very hazardous but turned out to be so because of COVID. Examples of such jobs
ers Compensation Consultants ( workcompconsultant. com ). “Some states have enacted so-called presump- tion legislation, to the effect that workers are presumed to have contracted their COVID cases at the workplace.” Prior to COVID, he adds, the burden of proof was always on the injured worker for a workers’ comp claim. Now it is often up to the employer to prove an infection happened somewhere other than the workplace. Long COVID Also looming are costly claims for so-called “long haul COVID”—a term referring to illnesses that linger for years. “I think it’s too early to tell what injuries or disease may ultimately result from COVID,” said Daniel C. Free, Presi- dent and General Counsel, Insurance Audit & Inspection Co ( insuranceaudit.com ). “The infections could have long tail effects. Consider what happened with asbestosis or black lung disease. There are still cases out there materi- alizing even though the basic exposure was eliminated a generation ago. So I’m not sure I’m ready to close the door on COVID even if we vaccinate everybody.” On the plus side of the COVID equation, claims are not as common as feared. “All the piles and piles of COVID claims people were expecting, never really happened,” says James J. Moore, President of J&L Risk Management Consultants, Raleigh, NC ( cutcompcosts.com ). “We were expecting six or seven times as many claims as we got in
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Do you need printed sheets? We have your answer.. Introducing Heartland’s ColorCorr. This is “flexo-printing in the round”. On our corrugator we can print up to 109” wide. The advantage is that we can print the equivalent of ½ roll at a time and not be required to keep several rolls of very expensive preprinted paper on the floor. Much less waste and risk. In continual print mode, we use either laser-engraved rubber rolls or solid rubber rolls to print a “flood coat” or a repeating pattern. If we are printing a repeating pattern, we can run a two-color design on the paper. Customers have found that running sheets we print can allow them to run a lighter-grade due to reduced caliper loss, and in some cases eliminate one or more machine passes.
For more information contact: Charlie Freeman | 816-500-8889 | cfreeman@heartlandsheets.com Tim Kramer | 816-841-8317 | color@heartlandsheets.com
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April 11, 2022
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