If you are involved in an accident at work that results in a serious injury, you'll likely be using workers' compensation to pay for your medical treatment. Here is what you need to know about the payments you'll receive when using workers' compensation. 

Paid Medical Bills

Since your employer will be using workers' compensation to pay for your medical bills, you likely will not be allowed to see your own doctor. Instead, you'll be required to visit one of the approved doctors that is part of the workers' compensation plan. Think of this as simply using a different type of health insurance with its own network of doctors, and you have to see a doctor in the network for the health care to be covered. 

Lost Wages

Another aspect of workers' compensation is that you will be paid for lost wages for the time that you are injured and unable to work when recovering. Be aware that this is not going to be the full wages that you would normally make while you are working, but a reduced amount based on your current wages. Check with the laws in your state regarding lost wage in a workers' compensation case, but it is typically around ⅔ of your normal paycheck.

Disability Payment

While the medical bills and lost wages are typically easy to recover in a workers compensation case, it is the disability payment that will likely require a lawyer to help you receive the payment you deserve. You'll be able to receive a payment that is related to the type of disability that you received if you have a long-lasting injury. This typically is negotiated with the insurance company, but if an agreement cannot be reached in mediation then the case will be heard in front of a judge at a hearing. 

Part of the hearing will be presenting evidence of your disability, and such as ratings provided by doctors about how serious the injury is. The workers' compensation provider will also request that their own doctors give you a rating, which is likely going to be much more favorable toward the insurance provider to reduce the amount that they will pay you in compensation. The judge will hear both sides of the case and make a decision about the state of your disability and how much it is worth for that disability payment.

Reach out to a workers compensation law attorney to learn more.