Workplace injury horrible rehab Comcare invalidity - can anyone help please?

[Jo999]

I have a psychological claim with Comcare that has been going on for years. I want to get away from them and out of the system, but they (and my awful employer) keep hounding me and sending me for multiple psychiatric exams and IMEs. They will not find me a job, will not give me a redundancy and will not put me forward for medical invalidity. I am just kept in constant limbo. The rehab consultants ignore all the medical advice and have not been able to find me a job. I have found the rehabilitation consultants to be the most useless nastiest pieces of work. They act like policemen telling me everyday to call up friends and beg for a job. They told me to do charity begging work even though I have poor social skills and anxiety. I am unable to approach people and beg for money. After 10 years of this ongoing crap, I am very unwell and don't know what to do anymore. Comcare said if I try to challenge anything or don't do what they say, they can go back and raise a debt against me for 10 years of payments (hundreds of thousands of dollars) so I am in a nightmare with no way out. Has anyone been through this? Can anyone offer advice or assistance as I need help. My anxiety is extreme and my doctor has prescribed sleeping pills to help me sleep as I lie away all night worrying. I am likely to end up jobless, cut off all benefits, and homeless, and the thought just makes me cry.

[Kellie]

Unfortunately, that is not surprising to me at all.

It seems to me there is little to no recourse if Comcare does not meet the requirements under the SRC Act. Well, that has been my experience anyway.

I saw a LinkedIn post where Comcare talked about psychological safety and working on reducing barriers to returning to work. However, there was no mention of the significant barriers created by the system itself eg. the trauma and stress of being part of the system which is likely to compound psychological symptoms or create them, having to manually fill out Comcare forms (eg. Record of Earnings) that are time-consuming and difficult to understand, lack of support (especially ongoing support) from Case Managers and Rehab providers, large tax bills that can accrue when returning to different employment, the list goes on. 

I think Comcare need to develop a system whereby they consult, co-design, co-produce ect. with those who have experience of the system (lived experience) in everything they do. Of course, the SRC Act needs to be updated and I think this is widely known. There have been reviews of the Act that have recommended this. Of particular interest to me here is that clients must accept treatment or risk their worker's compensation payments. To me, that is coercive in that clients are likely to feel forced to take medications prescribed for "mental health diagnoses" when we now know that these very medications are part of the reason for reduced life expectancy, side effects such as sexual dysfunction and again the list goes on. This is not person-centred or supported decision making which is what many of the mental health acts across Australia outline as necessary.

I'm no expert by far, these are just some my observations.

[section19src]

It’s exactly as you say, dealing with these people are exacerbating my injury to the point that I feel like I am even worse than I was before.And then they make me go through an insurance company that is just as incompetent as Comcare, so it is incompetence on top of incompetence and it becomes very hard to deal with so much incompetence.

[section19src]

Please see a post I created on medium, I pasted the link but it was moderated. If you google “Gallagher Bassett medium.com” it will be the first result. They are now inventing their own mathematics to try and hide their failures instead of addressing them.

[Kellie]

Being part of the Comcare system is traumatic. I'm unsure of the numbers (likely because this data is not collected) but sadly there have been suicides (informed of this by a Comcare Director). Comcare appears to be one of the last bastions where mental health evidence-based best practice is clearly absent. Additionally, the system appears to bully and threaten rather than attempting to work with people, thereby causing further trauma. Comcare seems to prioritise protecting their position above all else. I have seen documentation where clients are called "payees" or "end-users", highlighting the powered position Comcare has over its clients. I think some of these issues are human rights issues. I struggle to comprehend how this system continues to operate unchecked.

[Kellie]

I read your post and I am appalled, yet again! I was unaware that GB had been brought on board to assist with claims management (and offer pre-determinations that are likely determinations). I am happy that you are taking this to the AAT. I would love to hear about the outcome.

I think a lot of people, including myself, would like to proceed down this path but are unable to, afraid to etc. In my case, I was not provided a RTWP which is mandated under the SRC Act. This has had clear and significant implications. My determinations have always been made by Comcare and after a few years I stopped double-checking them. So I've no idea if they have paid me correctly or not. 

Some time ago, the Comcare system was broadened and offered to particular organisations outside of the Federal Government I believe in an attempt to make the system more financially viable. Also, financial viability is why the thresholds for approval of psychological claims seem to have been shifted in order to reduce accepted claims. After reading your post I can see that this broadening of the organisations and subsequent appointment of GB has only further compounded the problems and likely added some new ones. I wonder if the system is more financially viable now. If it is, this is off the backs of all injured clients (and those whose claims have been rejected when they should have been accepted) who continue to suffer the ongoing abuses dealt to them. 

[section19src]

Agree with everything you said. In particular, how they can operate unchecked. This is one of the bigger problems for me. Comcare doesn’t have any accountability. If Comcare makes an error, they’re not liable under the CDDA scheme and so they can just make unlimited errors with impunity. And then when they start outsourcing to insurance companies like Gallagher Bassett, they too have no accountability and not only that, they start finger pointing at each other and nobody accepts the mistake.

The system is truly cooked, I alerted them that I thought I had been overpaid (see that math error) and they refused to believe me. What Government agency hands out money and then doesn’t care when they have overpaid? It’s madness.

It must be viable on the backs of us, because if they can afford to pay extra to insurance companies instead of doing it in house, well who is picking up the bill?

[Imhuman2]

Hi Kellie,

I am currently on Comcare claim for a year now for mental health issues. I have questions related to the claim and RTW which I am reluctant to share in the forum. Is there a chance that I can connect with you

[Kellie]

Hi Imhuman2 - happy to connect. How would you like to do that?

[Sophie_M]

Hey there! 

Just quickly jumping in with a friendly reminder that we're not able to allow offline contact as this is an anonymous space for people to share their mental health journey in a safe way.  For future reference, you can find our posting rules here: http://www.beyondblue.org.au/connect-with-others/community-rules. 

Kind Regards, 
Sophie M

[Imhuman2]

Hi Kelly, I will better ask my questions here, as offline contact is prohibited.

1) When is the claim considered closed by Comcare?

2) If I can't go back to my previous role and there is no new role available, are incapacity payments still provided and when do the incapacity payments stop?