Some workplace injuries are so severe that no one questions an impacted employee’s need for workers’ compensation benefits. An amputation or similar catastrophic injury may force a worker to cease working completely and could generate tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses.
Other workplace injuries are likely to respond to treatment and may only cause temporary financial challenges. Fractures or broken bones usually respond well to modern medical care. Workers who break bones while on the job may assume that they can use paid or unpaid leave and their health insurance to cover their losses. However, workers’ compensation benefits could provide better economic support.
What benefits assist employees with broken bones?
Medical coverage
Fractures can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars in bone-setting and physical therapy expenses to tens of thousands of dollars in surgical and rehabilitation costs. Health insurance policies often make workers responsible for a large deductible or a percentage of their care costs as coinsurance. Workers’ compensation can fully cover all necessary treatment expenses.
Disability benefits
Even the cleanest fracture sustained by a very healthy person could take eight weeks or longer to heal. A worker may face a substantial reduction in pay if they can only perform light-duty job functions.
Other times, they may not be able to work at all until they recover. Workers’ compensation can replace a portion of a worker’s lost wages until they return to work or a doctor determines they are unlikely to respond to additional treatment.
Reporting an injury and filing a workers’ compensation claim can reduce the financial strain caused by a workplace fracture. Employees have the right to file claims, even if they have other benefits that can minimize certain impacts of their injuries.
