Schwarzenegger Outlines Workers’ Compensation Reform Plan
Republican gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday "laid out the skeleton of a plan" to reform the state's workers' compensation system during a 25-minute interview following a press conference, the Los Angeles Times reports. Under the proposal, the state would make it more difficult to file lawsuits in order to lower the cost of workers' compensation insurance; more clearly define work-related disabilities in an attempt to prevent fraud or abuse; and set up well-defined utilization schedules to define when injured workers could see physicians. "Don't we have a real rule here, a specific thing, a certain standard like other places have? The whole system has to be reformed," Schwarzenegger said. In addition, when asked if he would cut health care to make room for his promise not to cut education, Schwarzenegger said he would not identify any potential cuts "until [he] see[s] the detailed figures." When asked what services he might deny undocumented immigrants, Schwarzenegger said said a federal court had already decided the issue when it ruled Proposition 187 -- which would have limited public benefits to undocumented immigrants -- unconstitutional (Mathews, Los Angeles Times, 9/5).
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