The Financial Impact of Claims

Unless a workplace injury affects you or a loved one directly, you may take for granted that there is a program in place to help in those situations, and that those accidents happen to other people, not people you know. But the statistics on workers’ compensation claims in Pennsylvania offer an insight into the alarmingly extensive – and expensive – world of work injuries and illnesses.

These incidents come at great expense to the state’s taxpayers and employers, and more troublingly, workplace injuries can have a devastating effect on workers and their families. Let them serve as a sobering reminder that there is still much room for improvement in workplace safety, for the betterment of all.

Financial Impact

When state agencies are forced to make budget cuts and families find themselves increasingly under the weight of economic stresses, the expenditures required in connection with workplace injuries are of great concern. The following statistics are from the 2006 Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation and Workplace Safety Annual Report issued by the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

• 2006 Indemnity Compensation Paid: $1,502,859,293
• 2006 Medical Compensation Paid: $1,181,505,668
• 2006 Total Compensation Paid: $2,684,364,961
• 2005 Indemnity Compensation Paid: $1,554,370,012
• 2005 Medical Compensation Paid: $1,123,276,246
• 2005 Total Compensation Paid: $2,677,646,258
• 2004 Indemnity Compensation Paid: $1,521,003,013
• 2004 Medical Compensation Paid: $1,074,555,548
• 2004 Total Compensation Paid: $2,595,558,561

In each year from 2004-2006, the total compensation paid in workers’ compensation claims increased, with a cumulative cost of over $7.9 billion. It does not take much to imagine what use that money could have been put to if there were not so many workplace injuries and illnesses in the state. Let alone that these figures do not take into account lost productivity or other, intangible costs.

If you have suffered a workplace injury and want to be more than a numerical statistic, contact the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., at 215-329-3511.