Worker's Compensation Insurance

“yesterday i was injured at work. workers comp is paying medical bills, of course. the problem is, i have to see the doctor for a follow-up next week, and im supposed to be in canada for the next 7 weeks, starting this weekend. will workers comp pay for a canadian doctor to look at me?”

“You work?”

“You might get better care in Canada.”

“I doubt that MarkO, but he's in luck: I just checked and you CAN buy Preparation H in Canada.”

“Yeah, I guess he would have to be Canadian.”

“damn, how bad were you hurt? I can send you some nurse friends of mine to help you out ;) Of course, that will cost you.”

“Someone who is on a 7 week trip in Canada is not injured bad enough to need workman's comp.

Stop spongin' and get back to work. =P

OK, seriously now...you should be careful what you do. If you do go on a 7 week trip that i assume will include backpacking and then come home and try to collect more free doctors visits you could get busted for fraud.”

“Waddya get a paper cut?”

“Tell your doctor you go away at the weekend for seven weeks and that you need to go back on Friday. You won't get any treatment free in Canada.”

“Can't you pay for your treatment in Cananda and get reimbursed by workmans' comp?”

“. If you do go on a 7 week trip that i assume will include backpacking and then come home and try to collect more free doctors visits you could get busted for fraud.”

i dont see why. im going away to school. it just happens to be in canada. and people can still do recreational activities when theyre injured.


for you smartasses, heres the story: i smashed my finger in a press yesterday. it took the meat off from just below the fingernail and up. you could actually see bone. put one finger just over the nail of your right middle finger. thats how much got amputated at the hand clinic.

several weeks ago, i signed up for classes that just happen to be in canada. this is the worst timing because when i am supposed to be going in for a follow-up, i will be hours away from my doctor. i am concerned that workmans comp wont cover a canadian doctor, so i thought id see if anyone here had any useful knowledge. i see that was a foolish endeavor. and yes. i will be backpacking, but not until august, when the wrap is off and its had time to heal.”

“I think you need to talk to the HR or Insurance folks before you cross the line.

Most Insurance companies won't pay if you're out of the country unless there is an emergency. If they do agree to pay, it will may be down the road several months--you will have to put the money up-front.”

“By classes I take it you are going to a formal facility which would have a clinic. Seems you could use it for your follow-up. Sounds like lots of phone calls to get it worked out.

Sorry about your finger...one could say you are on the short end of the stick now. DOH!

Look at it this way you could have lost the hand or almost as bad, a thumb.”

“you will have to put the money up-front

i hope thats not the case.

you could have lost the hand or almost as bad, a thumb

yikes. a thumb would be bad. i just lost part of my bird”

“I don't see any problem if it's a finger. If it were a back injury or something like that I'd say it'd be different.”

“i just heard on the news this morning about a guy who was in a railyard accident. i believe both his legs were severed by a railcar. he was able to call 911 before passing out. i dont feel so bad, now”

“Hey, 13 years ago this September Birch got all of his fingertips on his left hand stitched back on. He'd gotten them crushed in a dock plate that sprung open while he was jumping off of it. He decided to come and visit me while he was on workmans comp.
The rest is history. Maybe you'll meet some goofy girl (or boy, whatever ya like) who likes to spend time outside in Cananda. ;)”

“ok people, let's clear something up...it's workman's comp he's getting, not disability...as far as workman's comp goes they don't give two rat's @sses if you go hiking or learn to parasail...workman's comp pays for injuries at work, disability pays for lost wages which i assume he's not getting...your recreational activities will not effect workman's comp

now, if the trip is mandatory and it is very important that you go to the doctor on that exact day you might want to contact a workman's comp official but more than likely you'll just need to see the doctor before or after your trip”

“Exactly what I never said.”

“going to the med clinic here in london today to get a referral for an orthopedic surgeon. hopefully will be able to get this dressing off at the end of the week.

talked to my workers comp guy today. should be able to recoup all or most of missed wages within 2 weeks, which is really good news. i wont have to worry aboot money as much and i should be able to go to ithaca and all aboot the kids w/out worry. also should get some kind of compensation for losing fingertip

today is a good day”

“Good luck, hope it all works out.”

“so, this begs the question - how much is crash's fingertip worth?”

“If it's actually missing. I'd look in his nose.”

“dealing with the bureaucracy of finding a dr. for the single purpose of referring me to a specialist has been a spectacular pain, however. were it not for helinka, i would still be pulling my hair out right now”

“WOW crash....imagine how smooth the process will be when we get the ENTIRE thing under GOVERNMENT Boondoggle.”

“i dont see a flame in front of the thread title”

“Dang C!B!
You turning into Mapes or something? ;-)

Sorry to hear about your finger.
Heal fast!”

“got in to the walk-in clinic today. changed the dressing. my finger from just beow the fingernail and up is gone. finger still swollen and bloody stump. have an appt. with orthopedic surgeon for tuesday to put a tip protector on. sorry to disappoint xl, but this one doesnt go down as a major failing of socialized medicine. most of my problems stem from just being in a different country. had i been canadian with a health card, this would have been a much smoother process.”

“Ouch! I hadn't read that part, CB, hope you're doing okay. I can't imagine that being an injury that one could just shrug off. Hope you can get it fixed up.”

“talked to my workers comp guy today. should be able to recoup all or most of missed wages within 2 weeks, which is really good news. i wont have to worry aboot money as much and i should be able to go to ithaca and all aboot the kids w/out worry. also should get some kind of compensation for losing fingertip


I guess workman's comp is different state to state, here in Texas, I (my company) pays the Doctor bills and continues to pay the employees salary, we get reimbursed by our Workers comp insurance. Maybe it's just the way I have it set up.[i]
last edited: 7/05/06 2:13:39 PM”

“im pretty sure it varies by state. when i had appendicitis, which was not a work-related illness, i was out for 3 weeks, but all my wages were paid (and very quickly, i might add) by FMLA”

“FMLA doesn't require an employer to pay wages.

It just requires an employer to hold the job open.”

“my employer didnt pay the wages. fmla did (at least, thats the way i understand it)”

“FMLA isn't an entity to pay wages, it is the Family Medical Leave Act (a federal law).

Your employer must have a policy of paying them.”

“Is C!B! an illegal alien now?”

“Uhm, I think he is an emmigrant.”

“Is C!B! an illegal alien now

no, but i had a hard time convincing the immigration official at the border of that”

“i havent gotten my missed wages compensated yet, but my last paycheck was about 50 bucks bigger than what i expected. that increases the odds ill be at ithaca!”

“So you going to change your trail name to stump or stumpy?”

“its a crash bang stump thang!”

“It's a Crash Bang Nubbin thang?”

“go all the way - change C!B! to SSF - Short Stinky Finger”

“well the dipshirts in the state govt level have decreed that if you miss less than 7 days work due to injury, youre not entitled to missed wages. guess im SOL”

“anybody ever received compensation for an on-the-job injury? how long after your final doctor visit did it take? am in for the long slow bureaucratic grind?

i dont mean to sound like a greedy fck capitalising on the system, but shet man, i lost the fcking tip of my finger down to the goddamn knuckle, and im broke after 6 weeks of school and not working. i start a new job tomorrow, but thatll just cover my next student loan payment. i want to get this mula before i (possibly) leave for korea. fck!
last edited: 8/30/06 11:21:04 AM”

“Crash, what state?”

“I think it depends on the company. My hubby had a settlement and recv it like a month to 6 weeks after the doc released him.”

“Workers comp is a state by state thing.....there should be a site you can go to with a complaint.

I know when I have been injured I find it easier to file my own insurance...than not do paperwork”

“I handle it a little differently I guess, when one of my employees get hurt, we pay the expenses and then get reimbursed by the Texas workers comp program, that way the employee doesnt' have to wait for the $$. We also continue their salary if it is a lost time accident and the insurance reimburses the company.”

“I got it for three months way back in 1994 after a back injury at work. Best I can remember, the checks started arriving quickly, maybe less than a month. The company I worked for paid me in the meantime, plus when I started getting the WC checks, they made up the difference. WC paid 75% of my salary; the company paid me the other %25 even though they didn't have to.

Another thing, my injury was determined to be a "partial permanent disability," so eventually I got a settlement.”