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Three guests with divergent interests find unexpected common ground dissecting Hawaii's workers' compensation crisis in 1994. Attorney David Robinson, former Insurance Commissioner Linda Takayama, and Hawaii Insurers Council spokesperson Paul Ables agree the basic statute is sound but has been warped by judicial decisions and special-interest amendments. Robinson singles out so-called independent medical examiners — doctors earning close to a million dollars annually from insurance companies — as a source of systemic bias against injured workers. Ables points to a stark deficit in the assigned risk pool: insurers paid an additional $73 million above $58 million in premiums collected in 1993 alone. Takayama, chairing a governor's reform task force, cites data showing medical costs rose 1,700 percent between 1977 and 1992 while total claims rose just 32 percent. A Maui caller waiting since May for treatment approval puts a human face on the delays Takayama acknowledges can stretch to a year. Roth pushes all three on fraud: Takayama estimates a national average of 10 percent, higher in California, but all three agree it is difficult and expensive to prove.
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