War Hazards Compensation Reform Act

Key Points

• The bill requires the government to pay interest to insurance companies if it takes too long to pay them back for war-related injury claims. Currently, insurance companies pay for worker injuries first and wait for the government to pay them back. These delays can cost companies a lot of money.
• The Department of Labor would have 14 days to acknowledge a claim or ask for more information. If the government does not pay within 60 days of that acknowledgment, interest will start to grow on the amount they owe. This interest would be based on rates set by the IRS.
• To help speed up the process, the Department of Labor must hire at least 15 new full-time employees. These workers will focus specifically on reviewing and processing these war hazard claims. This is intended to help the government catch up on payments and reduce the current backlog.
• Insurance companies would no longer have to set aside extra money as security for these specific types of claims. This change is meant to make it cheaper and easier for companies to provide insurance for workers doing dangerous jobs overseas for the national defense.
• The bill makes it clear that these changes will not reduce or delay the money that injured workers or their families receive. The goal is to fix the payment system between the government and insurance companies without hurting the people who actually need the benefits.

Impact Analysis

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