When will your workers’ compensation medical benefits end?

Every company with workers in Minnesota has to carry workers’ compensation insurance and post signs in employee spaces advising them of their basic rights. If you get hurt on the job, you may already know that you need to notify your employer and then file a benefits claim.

Workers’ compensation coverage could pay for your medical treatment and provide you with disability pay until you can return to work. Even those who have health insurance through their employer often prefer to use workers’ compensation coverage for their treatment costs.

There are no patient responsibility expenses for workers’ compensation coverage. You will not be responsible to meet a deductible, pay a co-pay or cover coinsurance. Making use of workers’ compensation medical benefits will reduce your personal financial obligations related to a work injury. How long can you count on coverage?

Until you recover from your injury

Workers’ compensation in Minnesota can theoretically pay your medical expenses until you fully recover or until you stop improving. In theory, you can rely on workers’ compensation for all of your healthcare costs until you recover. If you need surgery and physical therapy, workers’ compensation should pay for both.

When you recover and are able to return to your job, your benefit should stop. However, if you have lingering symptoms, any residual effects of your condition may qualify for ongoing benefits. You could also receive coverage after stopping it if your symptoms flare back up or you develop new symptoms associated with your work injury.

What if you won’t fully recover?

Some workers suffer an injury, like a back injury, that will have a lasting medical impact. No amount of treatment will completely negate their symptoms. In such scenarios, the doctor overseeing their treatment will have to determine when they have reached maximum medical improvement.

Maximum medical improvement occurs when any additional treatment no longer has a significant impact on someone’s quality of life or functionality. As with someone fully recovering from symptoms, those who achieve maximum medical improvements may still receive coverage for certain ongoing symptoms and can receive benefits again if symptoms worsen in the future.

Making sense of how workers’ compensation benefits function can help you get the most coverage possible for your recent work injury.