Florida Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, will shortly approve an 8.9 percent increase in the premiums paid by employers, to obtain workers' compensation coverage. The increase came at the recommendation of the National Council of Compensation Insurance, which made the request due to the rising cost of medical care, particularly for prescription medications.

Although the increase is significant in terms of size, it is disproportionate to the drastic reduction of benefits received by Florida workers under the Florida workers' compensation laws. Since the "reforms" of 2003 were enacted by the Florida Legislature, the quantity and dollar value of benefits paid to injured workers in the State of Florida has dropped dramatically, according to workers' compensation attorney and lawyer, Randy Zeldin, Esq., of Boca Raton, Florida. According to workers' compensation attorney Randy Zeldin, Esq., there has been a drastic reduction in the number of workers' compensation claims filed; a significant decrease in the number of claims prosecuted by attorneys and a "free fall" in the dollar value of claims settlements.

Social Security Administration Commissioner, Michael Astrue, has added 13 disabilities to the list of medical conditions which qualify for a "fast track" administrative review. The result is that an individual applying for Social Security Disability, suffering with any of these conditions, will have the application reviewed expeditiously by Social Security personnel. The intent is to speed up the tremendous backlog of applications for Social Security, which are growing exponentially.

The list has been expanded to including the following conditions: malignant multiple sclerosis; lowe syndrome; paraneoplastic pemphigus; multicentric Castleman disease; pulmonary kaposi sarcoma; primary central nervous system lymphoma; primary effusion lymphoma; angleman syndrome; lewy body dementia; corticobasal degeneration; multiple system atrophy; progressive supranuclear palsy;ALS/Parkinsonian dementia complex.

Social Security attorney and lawyer, Randy Zeldin, Esq. of Boca Raton, applauds Commissioner Astrue for his innovative steps to speed up the Social Security Disability application process.

Continue reading " Social Security Expands Compassionate Allowance Conditions " »

For the calendar year 2011, more than 3 millions U.S. citizens are expected to apply for Social Security Disability. According to the Social Security Administration, approximately 750,000 applications are currently pending for calendar year 2011. There are many reasons for this huge uptick in applications, but an aging population, coupled with a severe economic recession, are usually cited as the primary reasons.

The flood of applications for Social Security Disability has severely exacerbated the delays in processing. Several Congressman from the House Ways and Means Committee, are investigating whether any of the delays caused by the swell in applications, are actually deliberate. Rep. David Camp has asked the Social Security Administration's Inspector General, to determine whether Administrative Law Judges and staff, were asked to deliberately delay processing of claims, in order to meet administrative goals. Some anonymous Social Security Administration personnel have reported to the Wall Street Journal, that they were actually ordered by SSA officers, to delay adjudicating and processing claims, in order to meet administrative and bureaucratic targets.

Continue reading " U.S. Congress Probes Social Security Delays " »

Although the Great Recession has caused high unemployment throughout the U.S., the impact has been particularly severe in Florida. The current 10.7% unemployment rate, is far higher than the current national average of about 9%. This means that at least one million Floridians have been chronically unemployed since the current recession began at the end of 2007.

What is particularly worrisome, is the specter of permanent high unemployment in Florida, for the foreseeable future. Some economist project that four years from now, the unemployment rate will be 8%, well above the national average. According to Moody's Analytics, Florida may have a permanent unemployment rate of 6%, which would rank it 42 out of 50 States, falling behind Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina.

If the trend continues, Florida risks losing its most skilled job sector. There are already fears of an exodus of scientists and engineers from the Space Coast, with the closing of the Space Shuttle programs. Fewer jobs and opportunities lead to increased costs of unemployment taxes and workers' compensation premiums.