A Half-Million in Texas Without Workplace Insurance
At least a half-million Texas workers have no occupational insurance coverage, either from a state-approved workers' compensation plan or from a private equivalent, state insurance officials said Tuesday.
The figures, provided by the Texas Department of Insurance, provoked impassioned debate at a legislative hearing about policy solutions in the only state in the country where the decision to carry workers' compensation insurance or a private equivalent is voluntary for companies of any size.
The Texas House Committee on Business and Industry is studying the voluntary workers' compensation system, the shifting of costs to taxpayers and proposals for improving care for workers — or their families — who are left with few or no benefits after a workplace injury or death.
“That’s a lot of Texans out there without any protection, without any help, having to resort to public assistance and all the rest of us supporting them instead of these bad actors,” state Rep. René Oliveira, D-Brownsville, chairman of the committee, said in an interview after the hearing. “I think we have to look at this as fraud, as a punishment to honorable businesses that are being outbid.”
More at http://www.texastribune.org/2014/04/22/half-million-texas-without-workplace-insurance/ .