You may have read the latest report from ProPublica and NPR, who are doing investigative work into what they label a broken workers’ compensation system. Some lawmakers are looking at these headlines and deciding that maybe the system does need some work.

Ten Democratic Senators and Representatives, including current presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, are asking the U.S. Department of Labor to look into the state’s workers’ compensation laws because they think the laws have been changed so much over the years that they no longer provide protection injured workers need. They are also worried that because of this, costs that should be taken on by workers’ comp are now being shifted to other public programs like Social Security.

They wrote a letter to the Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez, in which they pointed to the investigations from NPR and ProPublica released this year that found only seven states uphold at least 15 of the 19 recommendations made by the original workers’ compensation commission established by President Nixon. Now 40 years later, 33 states have changed their system to either reduce comp benefits or make it harder for workers to get them. The commission back in 1972 never created any federal mandate but it was expected that states would comply with their standards. The Labor Department used to track compliance with these standards but stopped in 2004 because of budget restrictions. The group of lawmakers is calling the current state of affairs “a race to the bottom (which) now appears to be nearly bottomless”, referring to a state’s ability to opt-out of the system entirely. Federal courts do not review or ensure an employer’s opt-out plan to make sure it aptly fits the needs of an injured worker.

When workers cannot rely on workers’ compensation for lost wages or medical bills they start to rely on Social Security Disability or Medicare/Medicaid, programs which are not funded by employer premiums like workers’ comp is. The lawmakers estimate that this cost shift accounts for an additional $12 billion being pulled from social programs to supplement the needs of injured workers. While health care costs are skyrocketing, employers are enjoying their lowest premiums since the 1970s.

“If these workers aren’t getting benefits under workers’ comp a lot of them end up getting benefits under Social Security Disability or Medicaid (and) food stamps because they’re not working,” said Bobby Scott, the ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, who also signed the letter to Secretary Perez.

The legislators closed their letter asking the Labor Department to investigate the condition of state workers’ compensation programs and possibly institute an oversight committee to tend to any areas they find that they think they need to address. Other lawmakers have concerns about giving the department a bigger hand in a program that is really the responsibility of each state. The chair of the House Workforce Committee, John Kline, says that he does not think states should make changes that may deny workers’ their rights, but he thinks states are reforming their systems to combat potential fraud and higher costs.

What do you think? Will this issue make it to the federal level?