We need your help now. Please read the below opinion letter from Dr. Zunin published last Saturday. As you know from your personal experience or that of another injured worker, there is a serious problem with insurance companies and employers forcing injured workers to bad IME's(independent medical examinations); bad IME's then cause problems for injured workers like stopping needed medical treatment. To stop this problem, we have a legislative bill to require that IME's be by mutual consent, by agreement. We think this will mean more fair and impartial IME's. This will help injured workers. We need to have a hearing on the bill and that is why we need your help now.
The bill is House Bill (HB) 466. It will require mutual agreement of IME doctors. The bill is now in the State Senate with the Ways & Means committee. The Chair of the committee is Senator David Ige. We need for you to call Sen. Ige now to ask that he schedule the bill, HB 466, to be heard by his committee as soon as possible. You do not need to speak with Sen. Ige himself; you can call his office at 586-6230 and leave a message with his staff that you read Dr. Zunin's article, that you agree with mutually agreed IME's, that you support HB 466, and that you request Sen. Ige to schedule a hearing as soon as he can. Will you do this please? Today please. The more injured workers that call him now at 586-6230, the better chance we have of him scheduling a hearing soon.
For your information, HB 466 already passed the State House of Representaives and already passed out of the Senate Health/Judiciary joint committee. The Ways & Means committee is the last Senate committee we need to go through. We have a very good chance of the committee supporting and passing the bill, though we know there will be a lot of opposition from insurance companies and big employers. After the Senate passes the bill, there is a very good change the Governor will sign it when it goes to him. This would be a great victory for the injured workers of Hawai'i, including yourself. So, please call Sen. Ige's office now at 586-6230 to ask his support and to ask that he schedule a hearing soon on HB 466.
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Over the past several years we have watched the legislative process concerning workers compensation. Of course there is always mention of fraud and exorbitant attorney fees. Of course the fraud is always committed by someone other than the carrier. Of course the answer to the problem is capping claimant attorney fees and further restricting the rights of injured workers. And of course there are no restrictions placed on defense attorney fees while the carriers trample on the rights of those who can't afford to defend themselves.
Tell me why it is that criminals get better medical treatment than injured workers? Tell me why it is that injured workers have to give up their rights in order to get the medical treatment they need? Why are injured workers second class citizens? Does the constitution not apply to us?