I'm keeping future medical open. How can I get a larger settlement with Stipulations?

people ask me I want to keep my future Medical Care open but how can I get a bigger settlement at the end of my workers comp case so that I get paid more money there's not a lot of negotiating that goes into either stipulations with requests for award or conceivably findings and awards so let's walk through it your case is accepted there is a need for future medical care either either the primary treating physician or the qme has said you need future Medical Care and you want to keep that open the insurance company cannot force you to buy out or close out your future Medical Care so in that case future Medical Care stays open the only thing that will get paid to you in that settlement is the permanent disability award and the insurance company will take a credit for any permanent disability advances they have made so in that instance the insurance company is only going to pay you permanent disability and that's going to be based on the rating from either the primary treating physician or the qma whatever that rating works out to that's what the insurance company is going to pay there really is no negotiating I've had clients where permanent disability comes back let's say seven percent and I tell them future Medical Care stays open insurance company will pay out seven percent and my client says hey let's negotiate and get 10 or 12 percent but it just doesn't work that way in workers compensation in this California system whatever that final permanent disability rating is if you're settling with steps or you're getting a findings and award from the judge that's all that's going to get paid out so how do you get that number to be higher there's a few things you can do if you're settling based on the primary treating physician you can try to get your treating physician to give a higher rating you can make sure to emphasize honestly of course any other parts of body that your treating doctor might have forgotten about so if you injured your ankle and your knee and your doctor found impairment only for the ankle you can make sure to ask your doctor hey Doc what about my knee is there an impairment rating there also that may increase your permanent disability rating Beyond getting your primary treating physician to increase a rating which honestly it does not happen very often beyond that really the only other option that I commonly see is to object to that primary treating Physician's report and go to a qme a qualified medical examiner you request from the medical unit the state of California they issue three doctors you're an injured worker without an attorney you get to pick a doctor off of that panel schedule an appointment you go to that qma doctor offers no treatment just writes a report and that doctor May find a higher level of permanent disability than your primary treating physician did if that occurs then generally Your settlement will be larger because the permanent disability rating is higher but those are about only the two ways to go about getting a higher rating if you're keeping future Medical Care open there just isn't negotiating once the PTP or the qme writes that report it generally will go to the deu for rating and whatever the rating comes back at and taking into account apportionment that's what the steps are going to be you can negotiate with the insurance company but it's probably going to be a waste of breath because if it goes to trial the judge is going to award permanent disability based on that deu rating so really if you're keeping future Medical Care open that final permanent disability is all the insurance companies going to pay there's really no way to go about getting that increased unless you go to a qme or you get your primary trading physician to change his or her mind if you found this video helpful not necessarily like the answers hit the like button down below and make sure to subscribe so you don't miss future videos

Channel: My Workers' Comp Guide

Views: 2,216

Keywords: CA injured worker, ca workers comp, workers comp, workman’s comp, workers compensation, pro per applicant, unrepresented applicant, California injured worker, workers comp help, workers compensation help, PTP, primary treating physician, claims adjuster, settlement, apportionment, Stips, Stipulations, Stipulations with request for award, DOR, temporary disability, TTD, TPD, C&R, Compromise and Release, PDA's, permanent disability advances, EDD, disability

Id: TZavlYTtmow

Length: 4min 14sec (254 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 11 2023