FOR RELEASE September 8, 2006:
Mark Dansack comments on Cleveland Plain Dealer analysis regarding Ohio’s Bureau of Workers Compensation reforms which have actually increased the bureau’s total operating costs since 1998.
Citing a Cleveland Plain Dealer analysis, Monclova Township Democrat Mark Dansack, a candidate for the 46th District House of Representatives in Ohio, has issued a statement decrying the continued waste in the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation.
“It’s not bad enough that we have seen the “Coingate” fiasco with insider Tom Noe being entrusted with $50 million of the Bureau’s funds to “invest” in collectibles, and also the MDL investment losses of over $200 million, but now we are finding out that GOP reforms instituted as a cost-cutting measure in the late 1990’s have actually increased the bureau’s total operating costs at more than twice the rate of inflation - since these reforms were instituted”
As a result, according to figures quoted by the Plain Dealer, the bureau has actually spent roughly $1.6 Billion more under the managed-care initiative than it would have had costs been held in check.
“This gross mismanagement of public funds by these self-described fiscal conservatives speaks volumes about what is wrong in Ohio and has been for the past decade and a half. Then, as a response to “coingate” and MDL, we see the GOP majority ram through Senate Bill 7 earlier this year, an attempt to begin to recoup some of these losses created at their own hands at the expense of the very injured workers that the BWC insurance fund was established to protect”
According to the Plain Dealer, the BWC was established in 1913 as a state-run, no fault insurance program for workers injured on the job. It is now funded by premiums charged to public and private employers that are not self-insured, all of which are now required to have an MCO, or managed care organization. Operation of the program is paid for through an administrative fee assessed against all Ohio employers.
Dansack works as a legal aid for Gallon, Takacs, Boissoneault & Schaffer and deals daily with injured workers, physicians, managed care organizations, and the Bureau of Workers Compensation.
“It is becoming increasingly more difficult to get these injured workers the treatment they need to get well and get back on the job. We see delays in treatment and testing which in turn only delays the recovery of these injured workers that this system was created to protect. In the final analysis, this only increases the costs as the workers continue to receive weekly benefits while they are fighting the system to get well. Any qualified health practitioner will agree that delaying necessary testing and treatment will delay and sometimes prevent an injured worker’s recovery.”
“What we have created in Ohio is a system that seemingly protects the employers rather than the injured workers, which is a direct affront to one of our most vulnerable populations in Ohio.”
Dansack also commented on the large partisan effort to push though the Senate Bill 7 reform bill earlier this year. “I know my opponent voted for the measure. I know I would have voted against it. Then there is the issue of tacking on the increase in the minimum wage bringing it in line with the federal rate. What kind of political
theatre was that? I also know that my opponent boasts a 100 % pro-business voting record according to the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. I may be going out on a limb here, but don’t you think he could have found one opportunity to vote with the people instead of big business?
Dansack, 44, is married to Heather and has two young daughters, Caitlin and Sophia. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering and Master’s Degree in Public Administration, both from the University of Toledo. Prior to joining Gallon, Takacs, Boissoneault & Schaffer in 2003, Dansack worked in manufacturing with General Mills for eighteen years.
For more information on Mark Dansack and his campaign for the 46th District, visit his blog
:-)
2 comments:
If we have all this waste at the BWC, who's to say we're not getting ripped off elsewhere in the state.
Times are tough enough without these greedy politicians walking off with the public money.
Let's clean house in Columbus.
IMO, those best suited to administering Workman's Comp. would be a team of representatives from management, labor and professional health administration, not politicians and "near politicians."
Mr. Dansack may be right on these issues at this time but, working for Toledo's Mr. Workman's Comp, Jack Gallon, puts him too close to the subject to comment objectively when objectivity may be needed the most, IMO.
I support him and agree with his opinion on this one issue though.
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