Lump sum fix misguided

Your Sept. 19 editorial on worker compensation got some things correct: Most of the reforms made to the system are working. It makes sense to get people back to work quickly and the Centers of Occupational Health Education are shining lights within the system. It is proven that these reforms save money. But your concluding thoughts on imposing lump-sum payments on workers who have been so badly injured that they cannot return to work are profoundly misguided.

Individuals and families that lose their income due to a catastrophic work injury are subject to extraordinary short-term financial pressures and could agree to buyouts that are against their best interests in the long term. A lump-sum payment is a huge gamble. No one can predict what medical complications lie ahead or what future income looks like for an injured worker.

A lump-sum buyout only saves money for the system if workers agree to accept less than their guaranteed benefit. Thankfully, injured workers are not choosing to take these buyouts, and the savings that the worker compensation system have seen are coming from good practices, not from short-changing injured workers and their families.

Beth Thew

Spokane