News  Sports  Editorials  Columns  Beat  Home

 The state Workers' Compensation Fund was formed in 1913, and in that first year, it paid out $300,000 more than it took in. Today the deficit exceeds $2 billion, just shy of the state's entire general revenue budget for last year. How could such a tremendous debt be created? Who is responsible? Who will pay the astronomical cost, and could it be all West Virginia wage earners?

Find out in this four-part series.

Dec. 21:
Who will pay?
An injured miner wonders what will happen to him

MABSCOTT - Dwight Bowers lives on a gently sloping hillside near Beckley. He sleeps three hours a night. He never sits very long. When he stands, he leans on a metal cane.

Moore's actions put fund on brink of insolvency

When Gov. Arch Moore left office in January 1989, policy decisions and back-room deals had pushed West Virginia's Workers' Compensation Fund to the brink of bankruptcy.

Dec. 22:
Fund woes have many causes

Who created the Workers' Compensation Fund's $2.2 billion deficit? A precise answer is impossible.

Dec. 23:
Sometimes, worker is lost in the jargon

Every month, the West Virginia Workers' Compensation Performance Council meets. Its nine members make decisions affecting every business owner and working person in the state.

Workers' comp is big business

Spending nearly $600 million a year, the Workers' Compensation Fund creates vested interests.

Dec. 24:
Who will pay?
Will the deserving prevail?

What does the future hold for the Workers' Compensation Fund? Will its "safety net" system provide benefits for injured workers who really deserve them?

Dec. 31:
Donors owe Workers' Comp fund
Coal operators heavily funded Underwood, who called off suits

Some of last year's biggest political donors were coal operators whose contractors owe tens of millions of dollars to the Workers' Compensation Fund.

 News  Sports  Editorials  Columns  Beat  Home