The issues facing the present economic downturn are not necessarily the same that existed during the great depression and therefore the outcome may not be the same.

Now that Barach Obama is a going to be at the helm of the US, greater attention is being focused on the need for a national health care system incorporating workers’ compensation medical coverage. With private insurance companies failing, unemployment increasing, the cost of medical care soaring, more attention has now been placed on the elimination of medical care as a workers’ compensation benefit paid by Industry.

A proposal has been introduced in the NJ Assembly formalizing an alternate dispute resolution (ADR) program for workers’ compensation. The proposal would allow the establishment of such a program through collective bargaining units and insurance carriers and group self-insurance plans.