‘Excruciatingly slow’: Delays in workers’ comp payments harm firefighters, frustrate therapists

Some therapists no longer accept workers’ comp or even private insurance, leaving a patient paying fully out of pocket for mental health care, said D. Imelda Padilla-Frausto, a research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

“Clinicians often go into private practice because they don’t want to deal with even health insurance. It’s all out of pocket. Then you add workers’ comp on to that, and it’s “oh, no,’ ” she said. “Our health system is administration-heavy.”