Workers’ compensation indemnity benefits are cash benefits paid to injured workers. These benefits include benefits for temporary disability (time loss), permanent partial disability, permanent total disability, and death. Statute sets eligibility criteria and the rates at which insurers pay these benefits. In the case of death from work-related causes, indemnity benefits are paid to survivors. Indemnity benefits also include vocational assistance benefits paid on behalf of severely disabled workers to get them back to work. Indemnity benefits also include settlements between workers and insurers. Claim disposition agreements (CDAs) and disputed claim settlements (DCSs) are the two forms of settlements. The Workers' Benefit Fund ( WBF)provides funds for programs that assist employers and injured workers. Assessment revenues, not insurance premiums, finance these programs. Employers and workers each pay half the assessment. The two major programs are the Retroactive Program and the Re-employment Assistance Program. The Retroactive Program pays cost-of-living increases to workers or their beneficiaries based on changes in average wages. The two major benefits paid are for permanent total disability and death. Since at least 1995, the majority of PTD and death benefits have been paid from this program. The Re-employment Assistance Program provides incentives for injured workers to return to work, through the Employer-at-Injury Program (EAIP) and the Preferred Worker Program (PWP). Benefits common to both are wage subsidies, worksite modifications, and employment purchases. Workers who have not been released to regular work but can return to transitional jobs are eligible for the EAIP. Use of this program allows many claims to remain nondisabling even though the workers have medical restrictions. Workers who have a permanent disability and are unable to return to regular work are eligible for the PWP benefits, which may be initiated by either the worker or the employer. In addition, claim cost reimbursement is paid for preferred workers who suffer new injuries. The data in this table include estimated figures and are subject to revision. All dollars are shown in millions of dollars.

Tags: workers' compensatioin, indemnity, benefits, temporary disability, ttd, td, permanent partial disability, ppd, death benefits, ptd, workers' benefit fund, return-to-work benefits, rtw