Philadelphia has over 24000 employees. If you are a Philadelphia employee and were injured at work, it’s vital to call a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Philadelphia at the earliest. The following article offers some ideas about how you can maximize your Philadelphia workers compensation claim.
Be Careful With the Information You Share With the Insurance Company
As soon as you’re hurt on the job, it is important to call your employer’s insurance company or worker’s compensation benefits administrator (if self-insured). They’ll want to know what happened so they can help you recover quickly and fairly.
While it is important to share with the insurance officer all that happened that led to your injury, it is also important to bear in mind that they may try to find loopholes in the incident to reduce the compensation that they have to pay for your injury or prove your claim as insufficient for compensation. For this reason, it is wise to weigh your words and the information you provide so that it works in your best interest and not otherwise.
Reporting an accident accurately within the first 24 hours after your injury is a must for obtaining workers’ compensation benefits in Pennsylvania. So you would want to make sure that your statement of facts is true—that it doesn’t omit any details that would hurt your case.
Get the Right Medical Care
When you’re hurt at work, don’t go to any doctor who your employer’s insurance company doesn’t authorize. And don’t let anyone except your authorized treating physicians treat you for that injury.
If you see non-authorized doctors or therapists, they can still provide treatment—but it won’t count toward benefits for your workers’ compensation claim. Your plan will only pay the bills of an authorized medical provider; you’ll be responsible for paying out-of-pocket costs to any healthcare providers who aren’t on the list.
This means that if your employer’s insurance company has a preferred network of doctors and therapists, and a particular facility isn’t in their network, you should choose a different location so that the treatment will count toward your workers’ compensation claim.
Don’t Ignore Your Claim
Just because an insurance adjuster says that your injury isn’t severe enough to warrant any benefits does not mean that you have lost your chance of getting a well deserved compensation.
If you can prove the severity of the incident and accident and how it has a detrimental impact on your life, you can still stand strong and claim adequate compensation for the mishap. It is wise to remember that, if an insurance company refuses to compensate you for your medical bills and further treatment, then it is violating Pennsylvania law and is liable for damages.
Of course, if there’s a disagreement about how much treatment is necessary—for example, if you’ve had three days of FMLA leave or sick time and your employer thinks it would be better to wait another week before having surgery—you’ll have to work this out with the adjuster handling your claim.
Be Careful about Talking to a Third Party Employee Benefits Consultant
Be careful how much information you share if you’re considering consulting (or already have consulted with) a third-party employee benefits consultant or attorney.
It may seem like they’re on your side—after all, they do provide advice and sometimes legal representation for injured workers. But if the advice they give would bar your employer from providing you workers’ compensation (which it might), this is a conflict of interest.
Wrapping Up
Expert workers’ compensation lawyers in Philadelphia can negotiate with employers and insurance companies and help you claim the highest compensation you are eligible for.
