I read this OSHA QuickTakes article with interest, and a lot of concern. The implications of shifting costs is broad-ranging.
A recent study from UC Davis shows that almost 80 percent of workplace injuries and illnesses are borne primarily by injury victims and their families, and by private health insurers and government social safety net programs, rather than by workers’ compensation insurance. In the article, “Workers’ Compensation Benefits and Shifting Costs for Occupational Injury and Illness,” researchers explain that such cost shifts block the ability of workers’ compensation premiums to signal responsible employers that prevention is important.
“Cost-shifting affects everyone, because we’re all paying higher Medicare and income taxes to help cover that 79 percent,” said study co-author J. Paul Leigh. Not only does cost-shifting increase the burden on individual taxpayers, it also artificially lowers the workers’ compensation premiums that should be used to cover wage replacement and medical care for employees injured on the job. According to Leigh, this means there is “little incentive for companies to promote workplace safety.” The study also indicates that the cost-shifting “illustrates the inadequacy of existing data sets for capturing the true costs of occupational injury and illness.” To learn more, read the full article from the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.