Two Red States Eye Expansion of Employee Choice of Provider

Choice of physician has emerged as an issue in the Midwest, with lawmakers in Kansas introducing a bill to reintroduce claimant control of medical care and a lawmaker in Iowa introducing a measure to allow workers to predesignate their physician in case they are injured on the job. All nine Democratic senators in Kansas have joined six Republicans to sponsor Senate Bill 403, which gives employees the choice of medical provider if hurt on the job. The workers' compensation statute now states it is the “duty of the employer to provide the services of a health care provi...