Posted by Merle Campbell on November 19, 1998 at 16:22:59:
In Reply to: Insurance assassins posted by Jeff M on November 18, 1998 at 20:41:31:
Jeff;
You asked "how can the insurance industry live with them selves?" I
would think very well. The workers comp programs are big industry dollars.
They are living very well on money denied injured workers.
We now have a state where safety can be ingnored at the risk of the
employee with out recourse to the employer. Since the employer, SAIF, and
workers comp insurance carrriers can not in effect be sued
there is absolutely no incentive to fairly handle claims. They can
simply deny claims till the injured worker runs out of money and pay nothing
or settle for very little and in this state the worker does
not have rights of recourse.
I have noted that the workers comp laws have exempted this privilaged
class against lawsuits in violation of the Oregon Constitution i.e. Article
I, sc 10,19, 20 & 21 if my memory serves me right. I believe there
is a class that could bring action
against the benefactors of this legislation as well as others in what
appears to be a conspiracy of the legislature with employers and the insurance
industry.
Why do people not seem to care? I did not believe there was a problem
untill I saw first hand how the the workers comp system is corrupted. I
truly felt there must be some missinformation when I heard of people in
effect being raped of dignity and livelyhood.
I simply did not believe that any thing that unfair, corrupt or draconian
could exist in this fair state. I was dead wrong.
The only way this system will change is with pressure on the legislature, governor and the industry. If this does not work we go to the people through the initative process.
I wrote the Oregon Lemon Law alone with six other people and OSPRIG. I could not get any legistator to return my calls, except former State Sen Dick Springer (then Rep Springer). With GM and the automotive industry on one side and OSPRIG, Gary Berne and Robt Stoll (of Stoll, Stoll, Berne, Lokting), Dick Springer and his staff and members of Dieselgate on the other side working for the consumer, we would not have had a lemon law in Oregon that year. This issue is not much different, with outrage and action on the part of the injured workers of this state we can change the law. We need to restore equity and dignity to the injured worker. We can fix that this legislative session
Sincerely,
Merle Campbell