Iowa Insurance Division: Assessments for Second Injury Fund Total $8M

The Iowa Insurance Division reported that insurers and self-insured employers in the state are being assessed $8 million to in order to pump up the coffers of the state’s Second Injury Fund.

The IID said sufficient funds are not available to meet the liabilities of the fund. The assessment amount is due by Oct. 17, 2016.

Iowa’s Second Injury Compensation Act requires employers to compensate a worker with a prior injury who suffers a work-related second injury as if there were no prior injury.

The Second Injury Fund compensates the worker for the additional disability of the combined effect of the two injuries.

The benefits are limited to the value of that permanent disability that exceeds the value of the two affected members separately. The benefits are not payable until after the employer, or insurance carrier, has completed payment of benefits for the second permanent partial disability. The original injury does not have to be work-related to qualify for these benefits.

The Second Injury Fund also provides benefits in the event that a second injury to an arm, leg, eye, hand, or foot leads to or causes the victim’s death. When this happens, the fund pays $12,000 to $45,000 to designated survivor(s), depending on whether the deceased had dependents or not. Funds for death benefit payments are received from the employer’s insurance company. The employer’s insurance company pays a fee when an individual is killed on the job in Iowa.

Source: Iowa Insurance Division

Topics Iowa