Strunin Lee, Boden Leslie I
Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02118-2394, USA.
Am J Ind Med. 2004 Apr;45(4):338-45. doi: 10.1002/ajim.10356.
The workers' compensation system was designed to help injured workers who have substantial medical expenses and perhaps have lost a great deal of income. This study determines both similarities and differences in how workers experience their interactions with the workers' compensation systems in Florida and Wisconsin.
Ethnographic open-ended interviews with 204 workers from Florida and 198 workers in Wisconsin were conducted. All the workers had back injuries in 1990 and were either paid workers' compensation temporary disability benefits for at least 4 weeks or received permanent disability benefits or compromise settlements.
Some interactions with the workers' compensation system were positive. However, the majority of respondents in both states experienced their encounters with the workers' compensation system as cumbersome, frustrating, and demeaning.
Mistrust, stigmatization, payment delays, and refusal of insurer personnel to pay benefits contribute to workers' negative experiences with the workers' compensation system. These insurer behaviors raise the costs to injured workers of workers' compensation benefits and thus may reduce the propensity of eligible workers to apply for benefits.
工伤赔偿制度旨在帮助那些承担高额医疗费用且可能失去大量收入的受伤工人。本研究确定了佛罗里达州和威斯康星州的工人在与工伤赔偿制度互动过程中的异同。
对来自佛罗里达州的204名工人和威斯康星州的198名工人进行了开放式人种志访谈。所有工人在1990年都有背部损伤，要么领取了至少4周的工伤赔偿临时残疾福利，要么获得了永久性残疾福利或和解协议。
与工伤赔偿制度的一些互动是积极的。然而，两个州的大多数受访者都认为他们与工伤赔偿制度的接触繁琐、令人沮丧且有辱人格。
不信任、污名化、支付延迟以及保险公司人员拒绝支付福利，导致工人在工伤赔偿制度方面有负面体验。这些保险公司的行为增加了受伤工人获得工伤赔偿福利的成本，从而可能降低符合条件的工人申请福利的倾向。
