If you have been hurt at work, anyone will tell that you can get compensation for your medical bills and lost wages through the Minnesota worker’s compensation system. However, that can mean a lot of different things and most people won’t be specific on what medical bills you can be reimbursed for. They just simply know what worker’s compensation is for. There are a lot of different aspects that go into the treatment of an injury, all of them are expensive, and by knowing what you can get reimbursed for, you can make sure to keep track of it. While you might know that you can get compensation for an injury that happened at work, it is also important to know what treatments will be covered when the insurance company comes asking.
What Medical Expenses Can be Reimbursed Under Worker’s Compensation
If you have been hurt at work and are going to be considering a worker’s compensation claim, the rule of thumb is to save everything that involved money or payment. Even if you believe it is not immediately related to your claim, you should keep it around just in case it needs to be used as proof. This is because you can seek compensation for obvious medical expenses under worker’s compensation because they often have an obvious paper trail, but you can also get compensation for some less obvious ones if you were diligent enough to keep the records.
You can pursue compensation under worker’s compensation for:
- Emergency room treatment
- Doctors visits to treat and check up on the injury
- Any tests required to treat or access the damage of the injury
- Hospital stays
- Surgery
- Medication costs
- Gas mileage used to travel between doctor’s appointments
In most cases, the injured party will get to choose their own doctor in order to get prolonged treatment for an injury. The worker’s compensation insurance adjusters may recommend an independent medical evaluation by a doctor of their choosing, but this is simply to evaluate the injury and not to treat it. The evaluation can help insurance adjusters decide how much they may need to pay for an injury. In case you are asked to get an independent medical evaluation, the insurance company will cover the cost of the visit. However, it is important you take notes of the visit, particularly if it is extremely negative, and get a second opinion as the insurance adjusters may resist paying the compensation that your injury really needs.
There is one potential hitch, and that is that the doctor you want to treat your injuries may need to be in a certified managed care plan of your employer. Not all employers have such requirements, but you may need to check before committing to one doctor’s care. If they are not in this plan, it may be more difficult to receive compensation.
Furthermore, if you seek to pursue alternative medical treatment from an unlicensed official, such as acupuncture or any other homeopathic treatment, worker’s compensation will not reimburse these expenses. It is best to stick with recognized and certified medical treatments until the worker’s compensation process is through. If it is not recognized by the medical community, then it will not be acknowledged and reimbursed by the worker’s compensation system.
Need Help? A Minnesota Worker’s Compensation Lawyer Can Help!
Have you been hurt at your job? Contact us today to see what the Law Office of Joshua Borken can do for your case. The worker’s compensation process is complicated, especially when you try to navigate it by yourself. However, we can help walk you through it step by step so you know what you can receive compensation for and what records you need to keep in order to get it.