In summary, the significant predictor of making a claim was being overweight or obese. Motorcycle crash, risk of short term harm due to alcohol consumption and poorer pre-injury health were associated with a decreased likelihood of making a claim. Amongst compensable participants, the predictors of seeking legal representation were largely related to socio-economic factors. Lastly, the differences between compensable and non-compensable participants were not related to physical pre-existing/baseline health status measures.
Compensation status
It has been suggested that people with poorer health are more likely to claim than those in good health and that pre-injury/baseline health accounts for a poorer recovery not ‘exposure’ to compensation [
10,
11]. We found that the differences between those ‘exposed’ (i.e. made a claim) and those ‘unexposed’ were not related to certain health measures. Bias from reverse causality was not detected in this cohort [
12]. However, these results should be interpreted with caution due to the limited psychological variables measured.
The timeframes for claim acceptance reflect scheme design – WC is no-fault, CTP is fault-based, the latter can delay liability determinations. Likewise, explanations for high legal representation include liability issues, access to financial entitlements and/or the complexity of negotiating the claims process as reported previously [
15,
23].
Predictors of making a claim and seeking legal representation
Eligibility contributes to propensity to claim, which is as expected. However, injury severity (ISS/NISS) was not a predictor, which is unexpected given the moderate to severe injuries sustained by participants. It has been shown that those with minor injuries are far less likely to claim due to the inconvenience and effort required particularly if the injury does not cause any significant impact (e.g. minimal pain or loss of function) [
18,
19]. For other factors, higher BMI has been associated with poorer physical and mental health, long term disability, and chronic pain [
51‐
53]. In Australia, where almost 63% of adults are overweight or obese, obesity is a national health priority area and a significant public health problem [
40]. Overweight or obese people could be faced with a prolonged recovery and therefore, more likely to claim. There is evidence linking obesity to increased WC claim rates and costs, and additional sick leave across numerous jurisdictions particularly for upper and lower limb injuries [
54‐
56]. It follows that people with a higher BMI may be more likely to experience greater levels of disability and people with greater disability are more likely to make a claim.
For those less likely to claim, motorcyclists are more likely to be involved in single vehicle crashes [
57]. In these crashes there is no one to claim against [
31]. In addition, speeding and alcohol are stronger contributors to single vehicle crashes, which could result in traffic and/or criminal violations [
57]. In NSW, a police report is required to make a claim and motorcyclists could be less likely to approach police under these circumstances [
58,
59]. These are plausible reasons for the low claim rate in motorcyclists.
Similarly, short term harm due to greater alcohol consumption increases the risk of alcohol-related injury [
60]. The most common cause of death due to intoxication is a road traffic crash [
61], and alcohol consumption is linked to numerous medical conditions, which along with pre-injury fair-poor health could be associated with being more or most disadvantaged and/or not understanding how to claim. This last comment should be interpreted cautiously due to small numbers in this group (31/452, 7%). In addition, those who are socioeconomically less or least disadvantaged are more likely to have higher levels of education and be employed in professional and/or associated professional jobs (e.g. managers and administrators), and less likely to have co-morbidities. This is likely to reduce their need to claim for economic and other losses such as medical expenses [
62].
Besides eligibility, a person’s decision whether or not to make a claim can also be influenced by other factors. These include a perception their injury is too minor, concerns about current or future employment options, and/or a lack of knowledge about eligibility to claim [
18,
19]. Our study population sustained moderate to severe, not minor injuries, so this is unlikely to have been a factor. Concerns about current or future employment options and a lack of knowledge about eligibility to claim are possible but they were not measured in this study.
The sensitivity analysis for only those eligible to make a claim, showed that higher BMI was the one significant predictor in this smaller model, but the reduced effect sizes of all the other variables (i.e. those that were significant in the larger model) could indicate that these variables may be less relevant when restricted to the eligible population and/or a larger sample size is needed in future research.
The predictors of legal representation were speaking a language other than English at home and a low household income. These factors are commonly associated with health inequities (e.g. increased illness and disability, poor access to health services, and poor health literacy) [
62,
63]. These inequities could lead to increased legal representation due to the complexity of managing a claim (e.g. understanding legal terminology to access financial entitlements in the circumstances surrounding the crash and fault status) and/or accessing health care services via a third party payer (the insurer) [
15,
23]. Alternatively, people who are less or least socioeconomically disadvantaged may not require legal assistance to access financial entitlements because of greater competency navigating the claims process particularly if work capacity is not affected.
Moreover, qualitative research shows people feel they require legal representation to assist with adversarial claims processes, accessing reasonable entitlements, perceived illegitimacy of injury, and system disorganisation (e.g. communication and administrative deficits) [
21,
23,
24]. It is feasible these factors would be challenging to people with limited English proficiency and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds particularly in the presence of physical or psychological limitations.
Strengths and limitations
Our prospective study was a trauma cohort of moderate to severe injuries involving upper and lower limb fractures. We used validated and standardised measures. Participants were predominantly male, from lower socio-economic backgrounds with a household income below AUD $80,000. Although reflective of a more severe trauma population, they may not be representative of all CTP and WC claimants. The issues surrounding eligibility to claim are complex, dependent on scheme design and involve a myriad of legal interpretations.
It would have been beneficial to measure self-reported fault by including the constructs of blame, perceived injustice and/or attributions of responsibility [
64,
65]. Recent research has shown that these factors are significant predictors of poorer health outcomes [
5,
64,
65]. Fault (i.e. the driver caused the crash) is not the same as blame (i.e. blaming someone or something for the injury) [
64,
65]. For example, a driver may have ‘caused’ the crash, but blame his/her passenger for distracting them or poor road conditions. Blame or perceived injustice do not necessarily mean access to compensation. Our singular measure did not encompass these constructs.
Further, the collection of baseline psychological variables would have been useful (e.g. depression, pain catastrophising and/or anxiety). Poor baseline mental health and stressfulness has been associated with poor recovery in a compensable setting; which could impact on making a claim and seeking legal representation [
14,
15]. Other limitations were recruitment of participants solely from hospital and moderate loss to follow-up (32%).
Lastly, we did not include any indices of social support. There is growing awareness of the importance of social support to aid injury recovery and return to work [
66]. There are a number of validated measures of workplace and family support and future research would benefit from their inclusion [
67,
68].
Future research and policy implications
The predictors of making a claim illustrate the problems associated with a higher BMI and how this extends into the compensable arena. However, scheme regulators and insurers are limited in their capacity to address this significant societal issue. Conversely, those less likely to claim may benefit from access to health care services and financial entitlements and, if socioeconomically less or least disadvantaged, may have no need to claim for these items. The predictors of seeking legal representation provide insight into the importance of socio-economic and language factors.
Given the limited research, these factors need to be explored in different populations with alternative compensation systems to determine whether the findings are replicable. The presence of reverse causality bias should be routinely investigated if compensation related factors are potential confounders.
For policy makers there is an opportunity to conduct risk assessments, identify those likely to struggle post injury, and attempt to mitigate that risk with proactive health interventions and claims management. In addition, extra assistance for claimants from CALD and lower socio-economic backgrounds may alleviate some of the pressure to seek external advice. For example: face-face meetings conducted in an appropriate language; a streamlined claims process; and/or early payments for treatment and financial hardship. Conversely, those socioeconomically less or least disadvantaged may benefit from minimal insurer intervention.
Finally, the generalisability of our results could be affected by the diverse and complex socio-political environment of compensation schemes. For example, NSW has a predominantly fault-based modified common law CTP scheme; whereas other Australian states have purely common law or no-fault CTP schemes. Internationally, compensation schemes are based on mechanism of injury and/or type of disability, and/or governing legislation to access financial entitlements. Notwithstanding that, themes from qualitative research appear to be consistent across jurisdictions and countries [
21,
22]. Further, increased BMI has been associated with greater absenteeism, healthcare costs and claim rates across numerous jurisdictions, albeit in larger cohorts [
55,
56].