Could North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Policies Change in the Wake of the Brown Victory?
North Carolina workers’ compensation policy experts are exploring the deep ramifications of Massachusetts’ special senatorial election. On Tuesday the 19th — nearly one year to the day after President Obama’s inauguration — Republican Scott Brown defeated Democratic incumbent Martha Coakley in a competition for the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat. Brown ran specifically to provide the 41st vote for Republicans in the Senate — thereby depriving Democrats of the votes they need to squash a Republican filibuster of the proposed Democratic healthcare bill. The implications coming out of the Massachusetts election are many and are profound.
We’re going to talk a little bit about how specifically they might influence North Carolina workers’ compensation policy. The Democratic healthcare bill that was pushed through the senate over Christmas (with 60 Democrat votes) would have significantly altered the US healthcare system on both federal and state levels. How precisely such a reform might have influenced North Carolina workers’ compensation benefits, insurance pricing, and so forth would be difficult to predict — the law of unintended consequences, after all, suggests that it’s not easy to make determinations of this nature before, during, or even after the fact.
Nevertheless, one might assume that massive healthcare reform would have significantly changed the landscape for employers, employees, insurers, and state regulators alike. Scott Brown’s election, however, throws a new wrench into an already wrench-filled situation. Democrats still have a number of options at their disposal to push through some form of healthcare reform. If they succeed, this obviously could change the landscape of North Carolina workers’ compensation insurance policy. If they abandon their efforts — or at least delay them — it could have other, very different implications.
The only certainty in this fluid and fast changing situation is the certainty of uncertainty. In other words, the chaos surrounding whether or not a national healthcare bill may or may not pass ITSELF will likely have an impact on North Carolina workers’ compensation system, even if it’s an indirect one and one that’s difficult to measure precisely with our current statistical tools.
Theoretical considerations aside, if you or a loved one has a practical North Carolina workers’ compensation question regarding your benefits, insurance rules, deadlines, filing requirements, etc., connect with a veteran North Carolina workers’ compensation attorney asap.
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Scott Brown victory speech
