Kirsten Reile, West Fargo

The purpose of this letter is to bring attention to a very broken system. My husband, Oak Reile, sustained a traumatic, life changing injury while doing his job in May of 2020. Our family is requesting an investigation into the operation of Workers Safety Insurance (WSI) of North Dakota, as the need for change to benefit the residents of our state is long overdue.

North Dakota is one of a few states in the country that is monopolistic. This means that they bar the sale of worker’s compensation insurance by private insurers. North Dakota employers must buy this insurance from an insurance fund operated by the state. There is no oversight of this system, not even by the Governor. There is, in name only, a legislative committee whose role is to work with the WSI board to review policies and make changes. We contacted a WSI board member who told us he doesn’t even know why they bother to meet because they don’t ever do anything!

Workers Safety Insurance writes their own statutes and rules with our state legislators. Working with WSI is like playing a game, where only they know the rules. It is a system that is very difficult to understand and very cumbersome to navigate. WSI wears you down when you are at your weakest, and many injured workers simply give up. It is confusing and explanations are vague, at best. There are many, many pages of paperwork to navigate and numerous forms are outdated. They can deny equipment and services and always have the ability to make decisions “at the discretion of this organization.”

If you receive a denial of any kind, the next step is the option of submitting an appeal. If you lose the appeal, the next option is to go to court. My husband and I contacted multiple legal offices and were told that it is impossible to win in a legal filing against Workers Safety Insurance. WSI is considered untouchable because the company is so large and because of the lack of oversight. Unfortunately, there seems to be a sense of “why bother” by both the injured workers and the legal system. This allows WSI to do what they please. There are only two lawyers in the state of North Dakota who will attempt to bring cases against them by injured citizens. The stress of multiple denials, appeals, and the sheer amount of paperwork required to fight for something to improve the life of the injured party is crushing and adds to the mental health issues that happen so commonly in these life-changing traumas. There is money to help the citizens who need it. It is unfortunate that it is not available unless extreme measures are taken.

For effective change, there needs to be a movement among the fine people of this state! There are many people in our great state who have been impacted by a traumatic life-changing injury, or know of someone who has. Come forward to tell your stories to your legislators, the Governor, or to anyone you can, so that changes can be made. We are begging for change. Worker’s Safety Insurance of North Dakota needs oversight. To the media — there is so much more to this story, and not just from us, but others in the state. Please help us, all of us, get the stories out there so together North Dakota citizens can be provided with what is needed to live productive lives as independently as possible.

District legislators can be found by entering your residential address at: https://ndlegis.gov/lcn/assembly/constituentViews/public/findmylegislator.htm. The legislators serving on the Workers Compensation Review Committee are also listed on the same Legislative Assembly Website. They can be found at: https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/67-2021/committees/interim/workers-copmpensation-revie w-committee. It would also be powerful if you would contact Governor Burgum at 701-328-2207, or www.govenor.nd.gov. There are links on each site to guide you.

To elicit any action will take multiple calls from a great many people. We must be the squeaky wheel!