Justin: Under current state law, employers must provide workers

­Justin: Under current state law, employers must provide worker’s compensation insurance, which provides income to employees who cannot work due to injuries sustained at the workplace, to all full-time employees. This form of insurance is vital in protecting workers from financial ruin in the event they are suddenly unable to work.

Bharti: I disagree with your assessment. The high premiums employers are forced to pay for worker’s compensation insurance force many of them out of business, thereby serving to increase the state’s unemployment rate. Since unemployed people are statistically unlikely to carry health insurance, the state-mandated worker’s compensation scheme actually renders workers more vulnerable to financial devastation in the event of bodily injury.

Which of the following, if true, should Justin cite in order to respond most effectively to Bharti’s counterargument?

(A) In addition to carrying worker’s compensation insurance, most employers in the state also provide health insurance for full-time employees.

(B) Patients without health insurance and who have no money typically receive inferior treatment at hospital emergency rooms.

(C) People are statistically more likely to sustain debilitating injuries at the workplace than elsewhere.

(D) The state agency that compensates injured workers under the current insurance scheme is financially able to pay all foreseeable claims.

(E) Many workers file fraudulent worker’s compensation claims, and state regulators often fail to detect such fraud.


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