When you’re injured on the job in Washington State, you’ll often need to partner with an L&I lawyer to get the compensation you deserve. Unfortunately, many injured parties wait too long to file their claim or speak to an attorney, which significantly limits their options to obtain any compensation at all.
Do not wait to file your L&I claim.
Delays in filing claims might lead to a variety of problems. Generating red flags for L&I and claims adjusters is the most important problem. They don’t even know if your allegation is even true. In other words, why delay so long to file if the claim is valid?
Nevertheless, submitting late has additional drawbacks. Challenges with insurance protection, a delay in medical care, and trouble getting benefits are examples of consequential concerns.
Validity of your L&I claim
It’s not a good idea to wait so long to file a claim even if you had one to two years to do so. If you delay, you’ll have to deal with issues with claim legitimacy. In the opinion of lawyers, when workers don’t immediately submit a workers’ compensation claim, this occurs virtually always. Whether you delay one month or twelve months has no bearing. Every time, registration delays lead to the inquiry if there was an accident.
Any sane individual who sustains an injury would seek urgent medical assistance and submit an L&I claim immediately. The claim managers think along such lines. Eight or more of the ten claims that L&I denies on average have filing difficulties.
Late Claims Filing Might Lead to Problems with Insurance Coverage.
Insurance coverage is a typical issue that arises when a claim is made too late. When employees suffer an occupational disease or have an accident on the job, they may receive immediate medical care. Instead of making a claim, individuals could utilize their private insurance to pay for the care. It could appear simpler and less demanding at first. Later, though, it might lead to complications and uncertainty, especially if you later submit a claim.
When private insurance companies realize they have been paying for treatment related to a job accident, they become upset. After all, the cost of occupational accident insurance is the responsibility of L&I or self-insured businesses. The medical records for your early treatment won’t be available to L&I or the self-insurer either. When evaluating whether to approve the claim, later on, they might take into account your early treatment. Finally, medical practitioners may experience difficulties when transferring from charging private insurance to workers’ compensation. These kinds of problems can be avoided by submitting a claim right away.
Delays in Medical Care Following a Late L&I Claim Submission
Postponements in treatments may result from late filing. If there are doubts about the claim’s veracity, these delays may develop. You may need to challenge L&I’s denial of your claim, for instance. The subsequent appeal legal process can be drawn out. In actuality, it can take over a year to conclude. There is always a chance of additional complications even though they approve the claim without filing a lawsuit. For instance, delaying therapy when changing insurance providers. Once more, submitting a claim right away can significantly lower the possibility of unwarranted delays.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, there are numerous justifications for initiating a workers’ insurance application straight away. Speed things up and wait as little as possible. No matter what your motivations may be. There is a good chance that you will later encounter claim issues. It isn’t worthwhile. An accident record must usually be filed at work.
Then, go to a doctor and describe your work-related illness or accident. The necessary accident report papers will be available from the health personnel. They will also finish and handle the provider’s preliminary report on top of that.
