Letter to the Editor: Way to go!
BY Mark Knutson, Tulsa
Saturday, March 02, 2013
3/02/13 at 7:43 AM
Well, well, well. It looks like many of the greedy workers compensation trial lawyers might have just cooked their own golden goose. It was great to see recently that our Legislature and Gov. Mary Fallin are now in support of an administrative workers compensation system instead of a cumbersome and expensive court system. The Legislature has put numerous reforms in place over the last few years to reduce workers comp costs but thanks to judges appointed by our previous Gov. Brad Henry, they have been either disregarding them or declaring them unconstitutional. Way to go, judges.
The result is that Oklahoma continues to have some of the highest workers comp rates in the entire South. However, our good neighbor Arkansas figured out years ago that by going to an administrative system, you can cut out the unnecessary costs in lawyer fees thereby shortening and streamlining the process. This has resulted in Arkansas now having the third-lowest rates in the country.
This has been one of the biggest obstacles to attracting more businesses and jobs to Oklahoma and by setting us on a path to controlling our workers comp costs. This state could be poised to explode economically if the Legislature and governor move this direction.
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