Health is probably the most important thing in our life, as, without one, everything else simply doesn’t matter, or at least matter much less. When it comes to our well-being, we take good care of our body, but there are things and situations we cannot control, and that’s where insurance coverage steps in to cover the unpredictable.
Insurance plays a huge role in our lives, and no, we are not talking about famous people insuring some part of their body, but insurance in general. Certain industries need to have insurance for their workers, and the higher the possibility of injuries, the more likely that company needs to have one. Now, getting injured is not an ideal way to spend time for anyone, but unfortunately, accidents happen, which is why everyone should know what are their possibilities and options insurance-wise.
There are actually several possibilities and options, which is also a reason why so many are not aware of all the actions they can take in such situations. Of course, getting back in shape is the most important thing, but the rehabilitation process costs, not to mention other medical bills, so getting money from insurance can save you a lot of stress and not affect your budget. In the end, it’s precisely those types of situations why you have insurance in the first place, so why not use it.
So, if you are also wondering what and how to file an L&I claim, let’s have a look at the five necessary things you need to do to file one.
Inform the employer
Let’s first cover the basics, and in case of some accident, after getting medical treatment, the first thing to do is to call and inform your employer. After doing that, filling the ROA form (report of accident) is the next thing on your must-to-do list. Not doing one of these two things can affect the entire claim, and you can end up not getting any insurance money. Some people even downplay their injury, which is wrong for so many reasons and can further lead only to more trouble. As for the reasons for downplaying it, they vary. Some are not familiar with how to claim, while others are afraid that it will affect their career. To put an end to these myths, we must say that there are no reasons for doing this, as it will cause more harm than good.
Visit your doctor
When it comes to an injury, we all want to see the doctor as soon as it is possible. Although seeing the specialist that our employer chose seems like a good idea, it is always better to go with our doctor to avoid biased thinking and wrong medical report. If the employer chooses the doctor, there is a possibility that their record will not describe the true nature of our injuries. You need to have the proper medical report when filing the L&I claim because if you get an unsupportive one, it can be difficult to overcome it, even if you bring the record from your doctor, which claims the real nature of the injuries.
Take contact information from witnesses
It is always good to have witnesses who can confirm your story, and if there are some of them near you at the moment you got injured, the best is to take their contact information. There are never too many of them, so make sure to get information from each of them because they can confirm the story and help you with your L&I claim. The whole process can be complicated and can last for a while, so witnesses observations can help finish it much faster, which can save us from a lot of unnecessary stress.
Monitoring during sick leave and offer for some light job
We all need to keep in mind that once we report an injury and we are on sick leave, our employer has the right to monitor us during that period. During sick leave, we are supposed to be in the hospital or at home resting, so any other activities can be interpreted as disrespect and diminish the credibility of our claim. Because of that, our employers want to check on us to make sure that we are not lying, and we are doing everything we can to get to work as soon as possible. Besides that, if the injury is not that severe, our employer can offer us some light work to do until we fully recover. In that situation, it is best to check with an attorney and our doctor before we decide if we want to take that offer or not, but in most cases, that job is really suitable, and we should accept it.
Having all the necessary information
Filing the L&I claim is not difficult, and we can simply do it by ourselves, but we need to have some crucial information before we start it. We already mentioned that it is important to have information about possible witnesses, and we need to state their contact information in our claim. Besides that, we need to mention and describe the location where we got injured and describe it further. After that, we need to give all the necessary information about our employer, our wage and our dependents. In the end, if we have already seen the doctor, our claim needs to contain the doctor’s name and surname and the name of the hospital where they work.
Final thoughts
From everything mentioned above, filing an L&I claim should now be a much easier thing to do. Of course, for those who still don’t feel comfortable as you think you don’t have all the info, doing some research is always an option. The research combined with consulting the experts like Walthew Law Firm is always the best thing you can do as they will offer advice and guidance on how to make the most out of the L&I claim.
