Workers' Compensation
Workers' Comensation covers most workers who are injured on the job. The regulations are different in each state, but most include:
- Medical benefits to pay for necessary medical care to treat work-related injury or illness.
- Income benefits to replace some of the wages you lose because of a work-related injury or illness.
- Death benefits to replace a portion of lost family income for eligible family members of workers killed on the job.
There are a lot of complaints about Workers' Comensation and it keeps a lot of lawyers employed. For the worker, it provides basic protection but healthcare is sometimes limited by managed care requirements and politically imposed caps on other benefits. For the employer, it's a major expense, but it's a known amount and coverage is almost always available. At the same time, they are protected from the risk and expense of big lawsuits.