Court Opinion

ID: 9548575
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:05:32.423091+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:19:08.753279
License: Public Domain

BROWN, J., Concurring.
I concur in the majority’s determination that the employer’s insurer had 60 days from the receipt of the request for reimbursement of medical treatment transportation expenses within which to pay the claim.
*1182I write separately because I disagree with the majority’s reliance on Labor Code section 4603.2, subdivision (b). (See maj. opn., ante, at pp. 1178-1180.) That statute expressly provides that “[a]n employer’s liability to a physician or another provider under this section for delayed payments shall not affect its liability to an employee under [Labor Code] Section 5814,” the penalty provision at issue in this case. (Italics added.) Moreover, the majority’s conclusion that “when workers pay ... travel expenses out of their pockets, they become ‘self-providers’ for that aspect of their medical treatment” under Labor Code section 4600 (maj. opn., ante, at p. 1179), is inconsistent with the governing regulatory framework. California Code of Regulations, title 8, section 10111.1 (section 10111.1), cited by the majority in a footnote (maj. opn., ante, at p. 1179, fn. 5), expressly draws a distinction between the “failure to object or pay to the injured worker . . . reimbursement for the reasonable expense incurred for self-procured medical treatment in accordance with Labor Code Section 4600” (italics added), which is addressed in section 10111.1, subdivision (a)(3), and the “failure ... to object or pay the injured worker for any other transportation, temporary disability, meal or lodging expense incurred to obtain medical treatment or evaluation,” which is addressed in section 10111.1, subdivision (a)(4). (Italics added.)
Although section 10111.1, subdivision (a)(4), addresses administrative penalties, its 60-day time limit for objecting to or paying an employee’s medical treatment transportation expenses establishes that a payment made within 60 days is timely. In light of this conclusion, I have no occasion to address the analytically distinct question of whether medical treatment transportation expenses are part of medical treatment benefits. (See maj. opn., ante, at pp. 1177-1178.) I do note, however, that to treat them as such may present constitutional difficulties. (See cone. opn. of Baxter, L, ante, at pp. 1180-1181.)