How To Stay Financially Stable When Dealing With Unexpected And Serious Injuries

Besides the physical and mental effects of sudden injuries, people often deal with financial difficulties as well. This is often unexpected, and many aren't prepared for the bills that may come from medical needs. Thankfully, strategies exist to keep you financially afloat during your recovery process. If you’re dealing with this type of financial stress, consider adhering to the following six principles. 

Prepare a Budget

When dealing with the financial insecurity of sudden injuries, you need to prepare a budget. This task is especially important if you don’t normally keep up with your inflows and outflows of cash. You can prepare a basic budget by utilizing a spreadsheet. Simply list all of your revenue sources and all of your monthly expenses. You will quickly determine how much disposable income you have to carry you through this month. It's important to stick to this budget, and make changes as needed. If you set an unrealistic budget, it won't be doing much good, and it can be very discouraging. 

Clip Coupons

Coupons aren’t found exclusively in the Sunday newspaper anymore. While you can still save money by collecting coupons this way, you should also take advantage of downloadable internet ones as well. With a little searching, you might be able to save a healthy amount of money each month this way. You don’t even have to print coupons out anymore. Many manufactures allow you to download savings to your cellphone nowadays.

Enjoy Early Entertainment

If you’re financially strapped during a period of convalescence, you can save money by dining out early. Many local eateries offer discounted prices to patrons who eat lunch or early dinners. Check your favorite restaurants’ social media sites for opportunities. Dinner and a movie could be done earlier to save money. You may be able to save even more by avoiding going out on weekends. 

Consult with a Personal Injury Lawyer

If you were injured due to someone else’s neglect, you should consider consulting with a personal injury lawyer. This professional can help you recover any money you were forced to spend on medical expenses. A lawyer can also help you reach a settlement with the party at fault, say the experts at Bronson Jones & Co. If a settlement can’t be agreed upon, your attorney can represent you during trial proceedings. 

Search for a Telecommuting Job

If an accident has left you unable to work away from home at this time, consider searching for a telecommuting job. You might be amazed at the variety of telecommuting jobs available these days. For instance, employers are constantly looking for telemarketers, clerical assistants, accountants, writers, and teachers to fill vacant telecommuting positions. It's also important to talk to your current employer first. Often times, arrangements can be made so you can work at home and continue doing your job. 

Delay Unnecessary Expenditures

One of the best ways to stay financially afloat during a crisis is to delay unnecessary expenditures. This decision may mean putting off buying that new car for a couple of more years. Or, you might wish to rethink purchasing a pool table until your finances pick up. This goes hand-in-hand with your budget, and one of the most important things you can do for your wallet.

Suffering sudden severe injuries can be physically, mentally and financially draining. However, by being proactive, many people are able to stay financially secure during these difficult times. By following the aforementioned six tenets, you will hopefully survive this storm with your bank account intact. This will take a way a lot of financial stress that can take over your life if you let it. With a little help and planning, being financially secure even with unexpected expenses becomes possible. 

Eight Workplace Injuries That May Require a Worker’s Compensation Attorney

Any employee in any industry can be and will be exposed to workplace hazards that can lead to minor and even major injuries. If you are an employee and you are worried about such workplace injuries, a workers compensation attorney can help you with a present case and get you the financial and medical benefits that you need. Here is a list of eight workplace injuries that may require you to see a workers compensation attorney on a regular basis. 

1. Burns

Many employees have experienced getting burned from their job. There are many types of burns which include electrical exposure, chemicals and flames. Employees that are at highest risk in getting burns from their occupation are those who work in the food service industry, electricians and nurses. 

2. Falls

This is also one other most common issues that might occur for those who work in the office. Although many companies might consider this a personal injury, if it happens in the workplace due to the environment or furniture around the office or workplace, it is still a workplace injury. The number of annual occurrence of office falls and slips are around 25,000 cases per year.

3. Foot pain

For those employees who spend most of their work hours standing such as nurses and other professionals in the medical field, foot pain can be a frequent complaint because of those long hours standing. For those individuals who work many hours and are not getting enough breaks and time off may start experiencing unbearable foot pain thus causing them to be ineffective to work. 

4. Crushing injuries

This is another quite common office concern that may be cause from tall bookshelves being over-burdened and falling over. Office employees are also eligible for the same benefits as those in other professions that may be considered a higher risk, such as law enforcement and construction. 

5. Motor vehicle accidents

Those individuals who work in a construction field are frequently at risk of being struck by some type of motor vehicle. Some incidents may unfortunately lead to serious injuries or even death. A workers compensation lawyer can represent the injured party and his or her dependants to make sure that they get financial support from their employers. 

6. Back and spine injuries

In almost any field, back and spine injuries can be an issue. Those who are physical laborers who tend to carry very heavy objects, healthcare professionals who stand on their feet for many hours every day and other workplaces that may be strenuous to the body may cause these types of injuries. A workers compensation lawyer can work with those who experience these types of injuries to gather information about the working conditions in preparing a case. 

7. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

This medical condition can actually cause a person to stop working on the computer or doing other tasks related to their job. Cases of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome are often linked to poor ergonomics at the work desk. This could mean that they are typing at an awkward angle, poor posture at the desk and repetitive and constant use of a computer mouse. 

8. Heart attacks

Those employees who work in hard labor positions may be pushed so hard in extreme conditions and high temperatures. This could lead to sudden heart attacks and other serious medical problems such as high blood pressure or a spike in blood sugar levels which could be very dangerous.

Been Involved in an Accident Through No Fault of your Own?

Accidents happen all the time, on the roads, at work, in schools, at the shops… the list goes on and on. As the number 1 accident claims company, we have seen it all. We all hope we will not be a victim of an unfortunate accident, but they are always sudden and unexpected, so who knows which one of us will be next? If you have an accident, and it is not your fault, you may be able to make a personal injury compensation claim, but there are things that need to be done to make sure your claim is successful. For the purpose of our 10 step guide we are going to assume, firstly that you have survived the accident and secondly that your injuries are such that you are conscious and mobile. As it is the most common type of accident, we shall use a road traffic accident as our example.

Our scenario is that you are on a B road; another car doesn’t stop at a junction and crashes into the passenger side of your car. He wasn’t going slow, so has spun your car and his own hit a tree.

10 Steps to Take if you Have Been Involved in an Accident That Was not your Fault

Step 1 – Turn off your engine, get out and see if there looks to be any further immediate danger to anyone. If possible, it is best to get everyone out of the vehicles, but do not move anyone that is in pain, you could do more harm than good.

Step 2 – Hopefully, you or someone else has a mobile phone. Telephone the emergency services so that driver and passengers can be checked out to see if anyone needs to go to hospital. When emergency services are summoned to a road traffic accident, the police attend automatically.

Step 3 – If anyone involved is up to it, have them stand in a safe position guiding other cars round the accident. The last thing you need is another car ploughing into the mess, which could just cause far more serious injuries on top of the ones you already have.
Step 4 – Swap personal and insurance details with the other driver. This would be an important step to take even if no injuries were involved, but as we think you have a broken arm, broken collarbone and probably whiplash, their details will make everything easier.

Step 5 – If there were anyone around when the accident happened, ask them if they would mind acting as a witness in the future if you need them to. If they are OK with that, take their name, address and telephone number.

Step 6 – By now, the police should have made the area safe and traffic should be flowing again. They will talk to every one involved as well as any witnesses, and from all this information, have to compile an accident report. Make sure that you get your view across to them as calmly and clearly as you can, they are far more likely to believe someone with this demeanor than a raving nutcase.

Step 7 – Make notes about the scene and how the accident happened while it is still fresh in your mind, although with that broken arm you may have to wait till you are at home and dictate it to someone. If the other driver does not admit he was at fault and the case goes to court, those notes might prove very useful to you.

Step 8 – You are probably on you way to hospital by now, that arm will need putting in plaster and they may well want to Xray your neck to make sure the injury is soft tissue and no broken bones. You will possibly be there quite some time, so for now sit back in the waiting room and take it easy. When they release you, take care to follow whatever instructions they give you.

Step 9 – Once you are home, and probably after a couple of days rest to relax you a bit more, you need to consider making a personal injury compensation claim against the driver of the other vehicle. There is actually a UK law that says if you have been injured in an accident that was not your fault, the guilty party should give you recompense. In reality, it wont be the young lad driving the other car that will have to stump up, his insurance company will settle any claim you make.

Step 10 – Find a good law firm to act on your behalf for your personal injury compensation claim. You could try and do it yourself, but we would not recommend that. Insurance companies are notoriously difficult to deal with. Their legal team will do their best to pay you as little as possible, quite rightly so. That’s what their job is. Just like the job of a specialist injury claim lawyer, is to make sure they get you as much as possible. Insurance companies would rather deal with the experts; they understand one another and speak the same language, legal jargon. It just makes every ones job easier, and will without a doubt, be a lot easier for you. Use a firm that is reputable, that you can find recommendations from previous claimants, and look to see if there are any other people that recommend them. Gather all your evidence, notes details of the other driver and witnesses and give them a call. If they are worth their salt, they will give you free advice about your claim and will ensure that every aspect of the effect of the injuries is accounted for.

So now we are at the end of our 10 Steps to take if you have been involved in an accident that was not your fault, you can hopefully go out in your car without worrying about what you need to do, and avoid that junction on the B road just in case someone shoots out of there without stopping. All part of the service from the Accident Advice Helpline, the no. 1 accident claims helpline.

How Health Care Reform Could Change Workers’ Compensation

Ever since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, there has been much speculation about how the new laws will change the face of health care in the United States. Much of the attention has focused on the new requirements for individuals to carry health insurance coverage and the impact that will have on employers. 

However, health insurance isn’t the only type of insurance coverage that will be impacted by the new laws. The expanded health care coverage regulations are also expected to affect workers’ compensation insurance. How those effects will play out remain to be seen, but there is speculation that there will be significant decreases — and potential increases — to workers’ compensation costs.

Better Health Care, Fewer Injuries, Lower Costs

Each year, there are millions of workers’ compensation claims filed, costing employers — and hospitals — billions. However, according to researchers, not all of those claims are actually due to work-related injuries. In many cases, employees without adequate insurance coverage would use their workers’ compensation coverage to pay for treatment for pre-existing conditions or injuries. Under the new health care law, the individual mandate requires that everyone carry at least basic health insurance coverage. This means that people may be more likely to seek treatment for illness and chronic conditions via their regular insurance coverage, and not file a workers’ comp claim — thereby lowering the cost for workers’ compensation.

However, and perhaps more importantly, experts predict that the actual number of on-the-job illnesses and injuries will actually decrease thanks to the PPACA. Because employees will have better access to health care, particularly preventive care and chronic condition management, they will be healthier overall. While conditions like obesity and diabetes or behaviors like smoking are not generally the specific cause of a workplace injury, they often contribute to the severity of the injury or illness, thereby increasing costs. Ideally, the PPACA will improve overall health, and reduce overall costs.

Cost Shifting

While many people believe that the PPACA will lower the costs of caring for sick or injured employees, others predict that the new laws will only shift the costs to different payers. When employees have adequate health coverage, they may be more likely to simply use that insurance to cover their expenses, rather than make a workers’ comp claim and endure the scrutiny and red tape that often ensues. So while specific workers’ comp claims will decrease, the overall costs for health care will remain flat, or even increase, as those who would not have sought treatment previously, now do so.

Changes to Medicare reimbursement rates could also impact workers’ compensation once the law goes into effect. On the surface, because hospitals will no longer have to bear the significant burden of covering free or reduced care for low-income patients without health coverage, they won’t have to bill workers’ compensation insurance as aggressively as they do now. However, because workers’ compensation rates are tied to Medicare reimbursement rates — which are perpetually on the chopping block — there may be little difference in how hospitals bill workers’ comp, and they may actually increase the charges to workers’ compensation insurance to make up for shortfalls.

Claim Process Changes

Because cost containment is one of the primary goals of the PPACA (watch an informative video about the act here), certain changes to how claims are processed and managed are predicted to help manage costs. Because the new laws call for better care coordination and standardized reporting, the overhead costs of managing and processing claims should decrease. In addition, many states are enacting new laws calling for mediation, rather than litigation, in workers’ compensation dispute cases. Mediation will reduce the length of time it takes to process claims — and potentially get employees back to work sooner — and also potentially help reduce claim payments.

Again, there is much speculation about how the PPACA will affect workers’ compensation coverage and claims, and only one thing is certain: There will be changes. Employers who are navigating the new landscape of health care reform should seek more information to understand how the changes will impact them and how they can best position themselves to make a seamless and affordable transition to the new health care landscape.

About the Author: Eleanor Harpswell is the benefits and compensation manager for a New England–based manufacturing firm. A former insurance professional, she contributes to several industry publications, offering insight and analysis into issues related to managing employee insurance coverage.