Employers and insurers in NY take note: if you have claims with potential for second injury fund reimbursement, your window of opportunity for recouping recovery dollars has narrowed significantly. New York just passed legislation which includes provisions to phase out their fund. Also in the works, South Carolina legislators are discussing a schedule to close their fund as well, bringing a plan that has been under discussion for years one giant step closer to enactment.
New York Special Disability Fund – phasing out by 2010
The New York workers compensation reform bill, which was recently signed into law by Governor Eliot Spitzer, lays out a schedule for shutting the Special Disability Fund (aka Second Injury Fund) to new claims on or after July 1 of this year, and closing the fund down for all new reimbursement claims by July 1, 2010, regardless of date of injury. These are the major legislative provisions, but as the saying goes, the devil is in the details, which the folks at Insurance Recovery Group have explained in greater detail: NY Workers’ Compensation Reform Impact on Second Injury Fund.
South Carolina Second Injury Fund – next up?
After years of debate around workers compensation reforms, the South Carolina Senate and executives of the Second Injury Fund are looking at possible schedules for closing the fund. Some proposals under discussion have this happening by 2013.
More information: For a primer on second injury funds, see our April 2005 post Maximizing recovery: Second injury funds.
Tags: New York, second injury fund, South Carolina
