What Is A Medical Only Illinois Work Comp Claim?

We had a great conversation with a woman who was injured on the job. The initial reason for her call was her employer’s insurance company was asking her to sign a very broad medical release form and wanted to know if that was OK. We made clear that she shouldn’t sign something like that as it’s too invasive and gives them access to medical records that they have no right to see as they have nothing to do with the work injury.

As the call went on, she said something else. She said the insurance company had changed her case to “a medical only claim.” What is that you ask? I have no idea.

I don’t have an idea because it’s not something that actually exists under Illinois work comp law. Do some injured workers only require medical care and no time off from work? Yes, that happens all of the time. But can an insurance company decide that you can only receive medical benefits and nothing else? Absolutely not. That isn’t a thing, at least not a legal one.

The caller was young and what I expect was really happening here is the insurance adjuster was trying to make them believe that they wouldn’t ever be able to get a settlement or go off work and get compensated for lost time. If you don’t know anything about Illinois work comp law, you might be inclined to think this is true. People in general are trusting and if the insurance person says it, most people would assume it’s correct.

The reality is that those people lie and stretch the truth all of the time. It’s a gross business strategy that unfortunately seems to work a lot.

The good news here is that she did call us and we were able to tell her what the law really is and connect her with an attorney who will protect her and make sure she’s not taken advantage of. She will get compensated for her time off work if that happens and will eventually get a settlement.

The other piece of good news is that her case isn’t that old so she didn’t suffer a ton of harm. We’ve seen hundreds of cases over the years where we have to unwind many months of improper treatment by the insurance company in order to help the injured worker.

Whether it’s with us or someone else, we always recommend that you at the very least ask an attorney questions. It’s free and can cut through a lot of the nonsense. We help injured workers everywhere in Illinois. If you want to speak with a lawyer please call us any time at 312-346-5578 or click on our live chat feature.