'Miracle' tornado survivor denied workers' comp

[James48]

Source: Associated Press

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — By all accounts, Mark Lindquist is a hero, an underpaid social worker who nearly gave his life trying to save three developmentally disabled adults from the Joplin tornado. Both houses of the Missouri legislature honored Lindquist, the Senate resolution calling him "a true hero and inspiration to others."

But heroism doesn't pay the bills. The tornado's 200 mph winds tossed Lindquist nearly a block, broke every rib, obliterated his shoulder, knocked out most of his teeth and put him in a coma for about two months.

Lindquist, 51, ran up medical expenses that exceed $2.5 million, and the bills keep coming. He requires 11 daily prescriptions and will need more surgery.

But he has no medical insurance. Lindquist couldn't afford it on a job paying barely above minimum wage. He assumed workers' compensation would cover his bills, but his claim was denied "based on the fact that there was no greater risk than the general public at the time you were involved in the Joplin tornado," according to a letter to Lindquist from Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, his company's workers' comp provider.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/miracle-tornado-survivor-denied-workers-comp-170556418.html

---

No medical insurance. Now no workman's comp for the injuries received while he was on the clock.

[Angry Dragon]

1. No words

[shireen]

2. utter total BS!

These insurance underwriters are callous inhuman FREAKS.

:mad:

[rfranklin]

10. No, they are people who would lose their jobs if they approved this claim...

It's all about increasing the bottom line for the benefit of the top executives (because these days even the shareholders don't get a fair shake.)

[windowpilot]

3. Red State

Enough said

[SpiralHawk]

16. Republicon Family Cesspool Values

Republicons are too damn busy handing out 'special' goodies to their 1% PuppetMasters (R).

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. No it's not.

And why that matters is a mystery to all but the broad brushers.

[iris27]

45. No, it's really not.

And that has been made *screamingly* evident to me ever since I moved to Austin, TX.

Austin is "liberal" only in comparison to the extremism around it; all the major cities in Missouri (except maybe Springfield) are more liberal.

[scentopine]

50. No kidding - right wingers are working hard to turn Austin into

Houston or Dallas or San Antonio. Condos on top of clubs and shutting down clubs for noise. LOL! Way to go music capitol. Keeping it weird.

With all those $250k condos filling up with rich people, how come the city is broke? I thought the whole point of those $250k condos was an end to all the money problems?

Hard to imagine what all the fuss is about, I guess as you imply, other Texas cities are shittier.

And the drought and cedar pollen makes it even more special...

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

54. All of the good property is used by State govt or UT Austin

It's hard for the city to make money when huge chunks of down town are exempt from property taxes.

[jpak]

4. I wonder how much the CEO of Accident Fund Insurance Company of America makes a year

$2.5 million?

:shrug:

I bet he has health insurance through HIS job.

yup

[xxqqqzme]

5. It's a

'death panel' in action.

[Hotler]

6. Work comp is there to protect the employer not the employee.

Work comp sends the message to employers that the employee is disposable product. To all my working brothers and sisters, get yourself some secondary accident insurance.

[ThomCat]

9. Yes, especially if the company is so uninsurable that they

are stuck using the state insurance fund of last resort for workers comp coverage, that fund fights like hell to never pay out claims. They are well known for paying exorbitant amounts to have teams of attorneys and investigators fight claims. They'll spend a $million dollars for every few thousand they can avoid spending on a claim.

[SammyWinstonJack]

20. That's just pure evil and DAMN MEAN!

No other words to describe spending millions to avoid settling a claim.


Evil blood sucking life draining rat bastards!

[ThomCat]

22. That's a good description for the way state insurance funds

operate.

[999998th word]

53. They will $pend 10,000 plus just to get an IME from a 'MD'-read whore

to 'examine' you, and write a report that will exonerate them from any liability, and discredit the claimant. IME stands for 'independent medical examiner', read insurance co.medical examiner.

Insurance companies work from lists of these quacks who have a proven track record of success w/having your claim denied, often they are 'specialists' making BIG BUCKS for a couple

hours work. These reports are filled with cut and paste,misinformation, stuff you thought was confidential, gleaned from old medical records and outright lies prepped by the insurance companies.

Signed and sealed '.......' and admissible in court.

Department heads often get big bonuses for keeping the WC claim payout # low. Advice, if you ever are subjected to an IME exam, BRING A WITNESS in with you, also schedule an appt w/YOUR MD IMMEDIATELY after.

Also get a good atty ASAP, get references and advice from others who went through the WC system-DON"T trust that system or anyone affiliated with your employer or their ins co.They NEVER work in your favor unless forced.

I learned that the hard way.The whole WC system is FUCKING CORRUPT.:thumbsdown: :nuke: :rant:

[ThomCat]

63. All very well said. +1

[lbrtbell]

61. Stories like this make me feel physically ill

A quick side note--I love your sig file. Truly says it all. :(

[bertman]

43. That is just pure bullshit, Hotler. Workers compensation is to protect the worker

if he/she is injured on the job. Period. It is not to protect the employer.

[boppers]

52. "Rescue people from Tornado" is not part of their job description.

People seem to be lacking that perspective.

[polmaven]

56. But protecting the residents

of the group home for which he works would be part of the job.

[ThomCat]

62. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Once they get you to agree to go through the workers comp system you have immediately waived a whole lot of legal rights. You no longer have any right to sue your employer or the owner of the location where you were hurt (if they are different).

Workers comp was implemented primarily to limit the liability companies were facing while providing a very modest benefit to employees with a predictable cost (and therefore, a cost that can be worked into the budget).

The benefit to employers outweigh the benefits to employees, especially when,

1. For every doctor you go to see you have to go see another doctor that your employer chooses to get another medical opinion. Their doctors are paid to be hostile. There are doctors who specialize just in being the hostile second opinion for workers comp cases. It is a well known practice that these doctors will write their reports before they see you, providing the medical opinion the company is paying for. You are only going to their office as a formality, and you can often expect to sit and wait in the the waiting room, and then wait in the examining room, just to spend less than a minute in the same room as the doctor. So you will go into the workers comp hearing with at least half of the medical reports stacked against you.
   
   
2. I've been told that it's routine for the lawyers to send investigators out with video cameras to follow you around for a few months if you are supposed to have obvious physical limitations. I never say anyone with video cameras following me, but I'll accept that they were probably there. What pisses me off is that my attorney told me the cost those investigators charge was far, far more than any settlement would ever have cost. It was a huge waste of money. And because they work for the company lawyers, not for workers comp, they aren't neutral, even though workers comp pays them. After months of following someone, even if all they find is visible proof that someone is honestly injured they never get that on video to provide that for the hearing. If they don't get something incriminating, they destroy all video and provide nothing for all that money spent.
   
   
3. You think that with all these people working against you, you'll at least have doctors working hard for you, right? Many doctors won't see you when they know that you are a workers comp patient because they don't want either the hassle of having their medical opinions challenged by lawyers, or the long delays to get paid.
   
   Many of the doctors who will accept workers comp patients don't realize that they are writing testimony, not just medical records. If they insist on using the professional passive-voice when they write up their medical records, while the doctors who work for your employer use active voice, and make very definite assertions to the contrary, your case sounds weak no matter how strong it is. The company's case sounds strong even if it's all manufactured bluff.
   
   
4. While you are unable to work, going through the long, drawn out bureaucratic process of collecting documentation and medical reports and hostile second opinions, and waiting for your scheduled hearing days, workers comp gives you money to live on because you just lost the income because you are unable to work. It is not unusual for this "generous" amount to be less than $50 per week, total, that they expect a person to be able to live on while being unable to return to work. That means you are also going to need to apply for public assistance to survive, but nobody at workers comp ever tells you that. It's not until the first check finally arrives and you realize how miniscule they are going to be that you realize that the system that is supposed to support you while you can't work won't, and you will need to immerse yourself in a second big invasive bureaucracy if you don't want to starve to death and get evicted from your home.
   
   Of course, if the reason you are on workers comp is because you are suddenly very mobility impaired, without any assistance and without the skills yet in how to navigate and manage and cope that you only develop over time, getting to every one of these places, meetings, appointments, and always being on time can be nearly impossible. Learning to schedule a trip on regular public transportation when you are mobility impaired is a real treat. But if you can't keep up with all of it, it won't be seen as evidence that you are mobility impaired. It will just be used against you, and used as an excuse to keep delaying your case, or as an excuse to try to cancel your case altogether.
   
   Whatever your injury is, if it interferes with your ability to functioning in a way that makes it difficult for you to manage the workers comp bureaucracy, that's not proof of your injury. It's just an opportunity to cancel your case.
   

I have family that worked (and still works) writing/selling commercial insurance policies, including workers comp policies. I knew what kind of coverage workers comp was supposed to provide, on paper, and I knew ideally what kind of protections workers comp is supposed to offer, but nothing teaches you better than first-hand experience.

I didn't see even the slightest shred of evidence that workers comp is supposed to actually help workers until I finally got to see a doctor who worked directly for workers comp. By then I had already been in the system for two and a half years getting insulted up by company lawyers for sport, and then sent to an endless round of additional tests by an disinterested arbitrator/judge.

The workers comp doctor was the first person to shut up the company lawyers, translate the stack of professional-passive-voice medical reports on my behalf into active voice declarations that the arbitrator wanted to hear, and then gave a strong medical judgement of his own backing me up.

My lawyer said that there aren't many like him anywhere in the system. I got lucky to get the best doctor on staff. So I wonder, what happened to people who got the worst?

[mopinko]

57. construction companies see it that way.

any big job and someone will get killed. the premiums and the lawsuits are the cost of doing business. they do not care.

[Coyote_Bandit]

7. Even with insurance

this man would have significantly exceeded the lifetime benefits available to him under most policies.

Many worker's comp policies also carry policy limits.

Had he been able to recover from both, the availabe funds may have been inadequate to pay his medical expenses.


Another example of why we need a single payer system.

[dotymed]

"Obamacare" did away with benefit limits on insurance.

Next year, there will no longer be "pre-existing conditions for insurance companies to use against us. "Obamacare" definitely was far from perfect, but there are some consumer friendly new insurance regulations.

The main word is still "consumer." Health care must be a right not a "for profit" product. "They" refused to allow single payer at the table. maybe OWS will have better luck. If nothing else, it's all "baby-steps" which is bullshit a complete, immediate switch would be a big help to our economy, fuck the corporations, OUR economy.

Corporations are not OUR economy.

[subterranean]

19. The Affordable Care Act prohibits lifetime limits on benefits.

That was one of the first provisions to go into effect, last year.

[DreamSmoker]

8. What does this mean?????

So he got denied because he put himself in the most Dangerous situation?????
OMG....
Now that insane at best...
How about our Troops then??????

[PatSeg]

11. Maybe they're saying he should have died

I really don't understand their reasoning at all.

[DWinNJ]

14. I think it means

He received injuries that he could have gotten just as easily if he were sitting in his own home and therefore is not a job related injury.

[leftyohiolib]

25. it reminds me of the little girl in china, got hit by a car and

no one would help her for fear of being found guilty of it in someway. people will let others die in situations like in joplin cause they dont want to be denied care if the are injured during the rescue.

[pbrower2a]

49. rescue

But it has long been understood that danger to others invites rescues, that persons who create a dangerous situation for a rescuer is culpable for any harm done to a rescuer even if the victims end up unhurt, and that people are not at fault for attempting to rescue others at risk of themselves and their bodily injury.

[Brickbat]

12. Yes, God forbid the government get between a person and his doctor. It's crowded enough there

already, what with the insurance ticks there waiting to make a death-panel decision.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Proof there is a death panel

No doubt about it.

[caseymoz]

15. No greater risk, except being in the path of the friggin tornado . . .

Had to follow his bosses instructions on taking cover, if any, and couldn't move to a safer area or he'd run the risk of being fired for job desertion.

[icymist]

17. Need any more proof why a public option is necessary?

Just ask Mark Lindquist or any of the other American facing extraordinary medical cost that were beyond their control. Yeah, force people to buy insurance and this will happen, soon afterwords, occupy will happen. Take your limited capitalism for the rich and shove it!

[rurallib]

18. If we had universal health care .............

I don't think I need to finish the sentence.

[onethatcares]

21. Jesus wept.

n/t

[KT2000]

23. Ridiculous determination

and they better get penalized for it.
This is "self-insured" at its worst.
At least with a state fund the elected reps have to respond to such idiocy. So should their insurance commissioner.

Next time someone talks about insurance crossing state lines - this is the kind of crap they want to get away with.

[Honeycombe8]

24. Isn't there an appeals process? He should appeal. But the good news is...

he didn't lose sight in his eye, as was expected, he came out of the coma, and his brain seems to be all right except for some short term memory loss (who doesn't have that!?). AND....he's getting married soon.

With the public exposure, and his sorta fame, maybe the ins. co. will ch ange their decision. If not, I guess what he can do is just to make sure he doesn't own any real estate in the future, so it can't be seized. And just live with a big bill over his head that he'll never be able to pay.

This is a disgusting situation.

[jwirr]

27. I am assuming that this man has not applied for Social Security Disability,

There are also other programs that might help under the right circumstances. General Assistance is a monthly cash assistance program (which is truly a joke as it pays almost nothing) but Medicaid comes along with it. If he had family the program would be whatever they are calling AFDC today. But you do not have to apply for these cash assistance programs in order to be eligible for Medicaid which has income guidelines. These programs are supposed to help those who cannot get help anywhere else.

However, if he has money then he would have to spend down in order to be eligible but it sounds like he is spending anything he has on existing medical bills.

[DreamSmoker]

28. Logical??????

So with this Logic..
You could witness a traffic accident..
You Save the victim who is injured form flames off the Gas that is everywhere from the Gas Tank leaking..
You get injured in this process..
So the Victim goes to the Hospital..
Gets his or her treatment covered..
Now...
You who risked your life to save this person, gets denied by insurance because you put yourself in that danger..
Oh and thank God the troops are covered by the Government cause they absolutely would not qualify for benefits..
How about Fire and Police?????
This logic could create a situation were someone injured would be left to die by People who could help, but out of pure fear of denial of Medical Benefits.
Don't do anything to help at all... Just keep on walking by..


I sure as hell don't want to live in that kind of America...

Who the Hell are these People who run these Insurance companies???
Way Back... People who pull this crap got Tared and Feather...
Maybe even Hung for all to see...
Now Americans are open targets for these companies with no accountability at all..
America used to be the People and by the People..
Now What Folks????

Ya Hit the Streets, Parks, City Halls, and Even Wall Street in Support....

[Marazinia]

36. It's unbelievable

It's like telling people to never risk anything for their fellow human beings, because they have to preserve their health and lives to fill their 'work role' in society. Sounds like slavery to me.

[madrchsod]

29. most hospitals have charity and tax write off

tax write off is a little known fact that hospitals do not like to admit to.

he can write of all his bills by bankruptcy.

BUT...this would`t happen in a civilized country. only in america would a broken hero be bankrupted and forced to live in poverty for the rest of his life.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

30. Flood the phones of Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America

Toll Free: [phone]

[kestrel91316]

31. Another WIN for the 1%.

[kestrel91316]

32. Accident Fund Insurance Co:

http://www.accidentfund.com/

http://www.accidentfund.com/public/contacts/

Cheesy, fly-by-night "insurer" who probably cheats 99% of its insured out of legitimate claims, is my guess.

The parent company is Accident Fund Holdings Inc.:
http://www.afhi.com/about_us.asp

AFHI Board of Directors:
http://www.afhi.com/board.asp 1%ers

[Duer 157099]

33. $2.5 million in medical bills?

A couple of decades ago, that would have been not only unthinkable but laughable.

Now it's cryable.

[DeSwiss]

34. My hope is that.....

...a pack of snarling lawyers will greet the executive of the Accident Fund Insurance Company of America who made this decision, first thing tomorrow morning.

- K&R

[Divernan]

35. There is one happy aspect to th is hero's story.

Earlier this year, he was contacted by Carolyn Stephenson Mckinlay. They met 31 years ago in her Montana hometown, where he was helping to build a water tower. He was 21, she was 16. After a brief courtship they parted ways. Both married others, then divorced.

Mckinlay found Lindquist on Facebook earlier this year, and the two decided to meet in Joplin. The tornado hit first, but Mckinlay still came. He proposed in August, and they plan to wed.

All things considered, Lindquist said he's a lucky man.

"I'm a walking miracle," he said.

[lib2DaBone]

37. The American Public is getting sicker by the day....

I work with the public. Every day I hear people coughing.. wheezing.. see them vomit.. see them limping with home-made remedies..

American medicine might be the best in the world.. but what good is it if you can not afford it? What good if you are not allowed in the club?

The American people can not afford health care and it is showing in the walking-wounded.. a pathetic display of what our government has done.

Even if this man in the article was granted workmen's comp or unemployment...thanks to the TeaPublican nuts.. he would have to be drug tested and profiled before receiving any benefits..

That is the Republican answer to health care.. drug test and let them die.. shameless.

[polmaven]

38. I have handled Workers' Comp claims

for the better part of 30 years......I would have NEVER denied this claim...I don't care if the public was at the same risk or not. This man was "on the job", and doing his job at the time of his injuries. Maybe the laws are somewhat different in Missouri, but they can't be that much different. At any company I have ever worked, this is a compensable claim. This denial of benefits is outrageous!!!

[proud2BlibKansan]

51. MO laws are bad

If you lose a limb on the job, the maximum payout is $25K

[dana_b]

60. thank you

it seems like a no brainer, doesn't it?

[lucca18]

39. Shame on them!

Where is their humanity?!

[Guilded Lilly]

40. Sometimes it is very hard NOT to hate our country.

[valerief]

41. America sucks. nt

[WillyT]

42. Jesus...

:wtf:

:banghead:

:kick: & Rec !!!

[orbitalman]

44. K & R

[plumbob]

46. Sending out hopes that the bastard who denied this gets the same or worse,

immediately.

Fuckers.

[truthisfreedom]

47. "Accident Fund Insurance Company of America." Let's make these frauds the poster children for fake

insurance companies.

It's time to make an example. Anyone using this company should immediately switch to one that has scruples.

This is beyond outrageous. It's a perfect example of what's wrong with America today. Pure greed. Take the premiums and don't pay out when it hurts.

Hey Accident Fund Insurance Company of America. Guess what. You're not an insurance company. You're hucksters selling a fake product. You're liars. You don't put your money where your mouth is. You're about to be fucked sideways.

[Eljo_Don]

48. Don't blame the medical insurance.

Can't you see that the whole medical system is upside down? 2.5 million for taking care of a single person. There is something terrible wrong here. Hospital are for profit. Doctors, nurses, technical personal, medical equipment manufacturers, and so on are for profit. I am sure that you do not believe that there exists a single drug that can cure all kind of diseases. Then, how can you believe that a single economic system (capitalism) can deal with everything. There are things that shald not be privatise. This thing shall not be in the hands of for profit organisations. I know you can name them. Health is one of them. Education is another one. Make your own list.

[fasttense]

55. This is so obscene.

It is beyond immoral. Our American society is telling him, he should of let those kids die. That he is disposable, to be thrown away when his usefulness to some corporations is finished.

He is a human being and has a right to live and live happily. Now, he or his loved ones and friends, will go on a frantic search to beg for or borrow money to cover the exorbitant costs of his medical care. In the meantime, he ,or his loved ones and friends, will go bankrupt and live in poverty for the next 7 to 10 years because of that bankruptcy. All because the corporation has to make their billion dollar profits.

This country is a disgrace. The politicians and corporations that control the nation have no understanding of the value of a human life. America is sick and pathological.

[lynne]

58. Sure hope he appeals this with the Labor Relations Board and/or state insurance dept. -

- as I'd like to see the contract language that excludes injury sustained by a tornado while on the job. Have never heard of such language in a work comp policy.

The declination of "based on the fact that there was no great risk than the general public at the time you were involved in the Joplin tornado" is pure hogwash. Had he NOT been at work, doing his job, there is a possibility that he would have been somewhere away from the tornado and would have been in a place of lesser risk and not sustained any injuries. Being at work put him at greater risk.

He needs to appeal if he's not already done so.

[dana_b]

59. the Missouri legislature needs to step in

and help this guy. They could easily do that.

[ccjlld]

64. Local new this am said the insurance company will now pay

Komu news this morning had a short blurb saying that the insurance company will now pay the bill. Just heard it. They don't have it on their web site, but one of the anchors tweeted it this morning also.