Years later the pandemia still breaks down the safety nets of CA employees

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck California five years ago, it had a mass effect on California families not only medical but also economically.

So Unemployment rate to more than 16%S For their part, two state programs, which are supposed to announce the employees of the consequences of interruption in the workplace, have been struck.

The most clear impact is what happened to the state unemployment program.

As the workers were released, they filed claims for weekly benefits from the Unemployment Fund, which is funded by employers through wage taxes.

However, the fund, which struggled to pay claims before the pandemic, was soon exhausted and the state borrowed about $ 20 billion from the federal government to maintain the flowing benefits.

The employment development department also underwent a managerial implosionNot only to block the payments to legal claimants, but also billions of dollars payments, most of all from the federal funds, going to fraudsters.

Five years later, not only the state was not able to raise billions in fraudulent payments, but also the debt of the state unemployment fund to the federal government continues to increase. Interest fees are accumulating and there is still a difference between income and exit, although today the level of unemployment of the state of 5.3% is about one third of what it was in 2020.

Employment Development Department calculates that Debt will increase to $ 23.7 billion By the end of 2026, although federal officials had raised their salaries in California to give up debt. The basis of the problem is decades of political stagnation over unemployment benefits and taxes.

The other safety program affected by the pandemic is the compensation of workers, which provides medical treatment and payments to assist employees suffering from illness and injuries.

Most employers buy insurance either from private insurers or from quasi-PUBLY State -owned To cover the employee claims. Some major employers, including state and local authorities, is self -confident of a “working computer” as it is called.

Approximately 200,000 working compensation claims have been filed by Covid-19 victims, although the relationship between the disease and the workplace is at best.

Nevertheless, these claims and a sharp increase in medical expenses are cited by the insurance industry Bureau of compensation for compensation in demand increased by 11.2% of insurance premiums, paid employers, Orientatively approved by the State Department of Insurance to enter into force on September 1.

This is the latest chapter in the long-standing political friction over the costs and benefits of work compensation, which collectively approaches $ 20 billion a year.

Approximately once a decade, the main participants in the system of working compensation – employers, insurers, unions, lawyers of the working comple and medical care providers – Collision over the problemS The last time was in 2012, when the then government. Jerry Brown has agreed a compromise that has raised benefits but has imposed new rules on benefits and medical admissibility to save enough money to pay for increases.

Although opposed to medical suppliers and attorneys, the transaction had the desired impact, including a sharp reduction in insurance costs against wages. However, insurance costs in California, 1.86% of wages, remain among the highest in the nationAccording to a two -year study by the Oregon Consumer and Business Services Division, widely considered the most authentic source of data on work compensation.

The stage seems to be set for another of the periodic clashes of Capitol. However, legislation that would have increased cash benefits Disability workers have never reached the first committee this year, so that the contested forces will face somewhere in the future.