One benefit of greater access to health care is that overall, employees will be healthier, likely leading to a reduction in workers’ compensation claims. And if employees are healthier, they will be less likely to remain reliant on workers’ compensation with a combination of work-related and other medical conditions, allowing claims to be closed sooner.
Greater access to health care will allow diseases or conditions, such as high blood pressure, to be diagnosed at an appointment with a primary physician rather than in the emergency room after a workplace accident. Diagnosing existing conditions before a workplace accident will help a physician treat injuries more thoroughly, since he or she will know that the patient has it earlier on.
Another benefit of the ACA on workers’ compensation is that increased access to health care will help injured employees recover more quickly from workplace injuries, since employees will be healthier from the start. The sooner an injured employee recovers and is back to work, the less you will have to pay for workers’ compensation costs.
