At least once a week I talk to someone who was injured a while back at work, but never went to a doctor because, “I don’t have health insurance and can’t afford it.”
In Illinois, if you are hurt at work, 100% of your medical treatment is paid for by the insurance company for your employer. There are no co-pays, no out of pocket expenses.
For some of my readers this may be obvious, but for too many people it’s not. The biggest mistake a lawyer can make is to assume his client knows what they are talking about. I’d rather err on the side of telling you too much rather than too little.
It also doesn’t matter if you just started working. As long as your injury arises out of and in the course of your job then you get workers’ compensation benefits. People don’t usually get hurt on the first day of the job, but it happens. If it does you can go to the doctor and assuming it’s a work related injury, they will have to cover it.
Bottom line is if it’s a work injury it’s covered. If it’s not then you use your own insurance if you have it.
As always, any questions about this or anything else, call us at (312) 346-5578 or fill out the form to the right.
