Quote:
Originally Posted by lyndianne
I had a series of concussions and neck injuries at my job in California. After losing my ability to teach, or work at all, I came back to my home state in Oregon. I am on SSDI with an open worker's comp case and a lawyer who appears to roll over for WC. Since my return to Oregon I have found doctors who are actually helping
me. I have received a new diagnosis for ADD from the injuries, have paid out of pocket for the physical therapy and special glasses for my photosensitivity. My lawyer completely ignores any information from my doctors or my expenses and
everything seems to hinge on a few WC doctors who saw me for 4 hours a year ago. I find this incredulous but I can't get a response on why information from my doctors is not relevant to my case and ongoing care needs. Is this how California Worker's Comp operates or does it seem I have a lawyer who is unwilling to fight for me. And yes I have tried to talk to her about this but I get no straight answers.
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You need to be seeing a doctor in CA regularly until you close out your case. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you made the move without consulting with your attorney. If you need to drive or fly into No CA in order to wrap things up, I would suggest that you do so. WC will likely give you a low ball offer since you aren't utilizing your entitled health benefits. Frankly, I'm surprised any doc is willing to let you pay out of pocket for a WC injury. No doc in CA would, due to laws put in place to protect you.
If there is any chance of you being permanently disabled and not being able to work again, then you need to have SS approve your Medical portion of the settlement. This way, if you do file for SSDI, then after you exhaust your Work Injury Set Aside funds, you can use Medicare. I can't stress enough how important this is. If WC low balls the medical portion of your settlement SS will not sign off.
If you need to file for SSDI, remember to do so well before your Date Last Insured. Often this is 5 years after you stop working.