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​Experienced ILLINOIS Workers’ Compensation Lawyers
& CHICAGO Injury Lawyers

Medical Benefits for CTA Workers

Chicago Workers’ Compensation Lawyers for Commonwealth Edison Employees

As a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) worker, you face numerous hazards on the job. As an employee, you are vulnerable to violence and crashes that leave you catastrophically injured. If you are injured or made sick on the job, you could face significant disruptions to your ability to earn a living. You may need emergency or long-term medical care but find yourself unable to pay the expenses. You may find that the CTA’s insurer starts paying benefits, but suddenly terminates those benefits or issues a denial. Call the seasoned Chicago workers’ compensation lawyers of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca to represent you in your claim against CTA for medical benefits. We seek the best available outcome and examine the circumstances of your accident to determine whether other relief would also be appropriate.

Medical Benefits for CTA Workers

The Illinois workers’ compensation is a system of no-fault benefits. CTA must obtain workers’ compensation insurance to cover you from the moment your job begins; there is no waiting period. You can obtain benefits if you sustain a job-related injury. Although the system was designed to be less complex than litigation in court, it can be difficult to obtain benefits, in practice and it is wise to retain a lawyer.

Benefits you may be able to obtain include the costs of any reasonable and necessary medical care. For example, if you were shot by a frustrated passenger while operating a bus such that you are paralyzed from the waist down due to damage to your vertebrae, you may need emergency care, doctors’ visits, medications, medical equipment, physical and surgeries. These are very expensive. You may not have enough saved as a transit operator to pay for surgery; surgical bills can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. You may need physical therapy for many months, even if you do get a surgery, and these costs, too, can add up.

Sometimes diagnosis itself is expensive. For another example, if you suffered a wrist injury while typing and performing tasks in a CTA office, you may require certain diagnostic tests such as an X-ray, electromyography, and a nerve conduction study.

Claim for Medical Benefits

As a CTA worker who has been injured on the job, you should let your doctors know you were injured on the job. Your doctors should bill CTA and its insurer, rather than you. So long as CTA doesn’t dispute your medical bill, it should pay your doctors directly. You won’t be required to pay a deductible or a copayment. However, the doctor may need to obtain pre-authorization to provide you with certain treatments it recommends. Our attorneys can advise you on whether a denial of authorization was reasonable and advocate on your behalf.

You can choose the provider from whom you seek treatment. You will be limited to two choices within a preferred provider program (PPP) if CTA has a PPP. These two choices don’t include referrals to specialists. However, if your employer has a PPP, and you choose not to select your employer from within the PPP, you will only have one choice.

CTA and its insurer may perform a utilization review. This is a review of your medical treatment related your work injuries. The findings of the utilization review may be used to determine whether medical care was reasonably necessary. Medical benefits won’t be paid if there is a finding that you didn’t reasonably need certain care or you received excessive treatment. For instance, if you underwent a second surgery for your work-related paralysis that the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission found wasn’t reasonably necessary, CTA may not be held responsible for paying for it.

Hire a Chicago Law Firm for Injured CTA Workers

Our attorneys may be able to pursue medical benefits in a workers’ compensation claim against CTA in Champaign, Rockford, Quincy, and Aurora, as well as Sangamon, Winnebago, Kane, Cook, and Adams Counties. We also handle third party lawsuits and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claims. Call us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online form.