Impact of health reform on work comp

Over at Mark Wall’s Linked-In Group there’s a passionate discussion going on about the impact of health reform on workers comp.
I have my own views on the impact of reform on workers comp, namely the Affordable Care Act, aka PPACA, aka Obamacare, is generally good news for the comp industry. That may not sit well with the ideologically pure, but here’s why.
– Healthier claimants – those with insurance are healthier than those without
– no need for WC to pay for non-occ conditions once the claimant has coverage (whether the WC payer follows thru on this is a separate issue)
– more science and less art in the practice of medicine as comparative effectiveness research gains traction – good news indeed for comp payers saddled with back surgeries and H-Wave devices.
– of course, there’s bad news – mostly for comp networks who are going to become increasingly ineffective in their efforts to negotiate favorable deals with big provider groups, facilities, and systems.
But, as Mark and others point out, while we think we know what’s going to happen, we really can’t know…