Does workers' compensation cover my travel to and from medical appointments?

Yes, in virtually every state. You are entitled to mileage reimbursement at the state's established rate for trips to treating physicians, physical therapists, pharmacies, and IME appointments related to your claim. Keep a detailed log of every trip — date, destination, odometer readings. Submit these records monthly rather than waiting until settlement. Many carriers will pay without dispute if the documentation is clean.

What is the difference between temporary disability and permanent partial disability?

Temporary disability benefits replace a portion of lost wages while you are actively recovering and unable to work at full capacity. They end once you reach maximum medical improvement — the point where your condition has stabilized as much as it will. Permanent partial disability benefits begin after that, compensating for any lasting functional impairment that remains. The two benefit types are sequential, not interchangeable, and many workers do not realize they may qualify for both.

Can I receive vocational rehabilitation if I can still do some type of work?

Yes. Vocational rehabilitation eligibility is not limited to workers who are completely unable to work. If your injury prevents you from returning to your previous occupation but you retain the capacity for other employment, most state systems require the insurer to fund retraining. This typically includes skills assessment, job placement assistance, and tuition for qualifying programs. The standard is whether you can return to work comparable in pay and status to your pre-injury job — not whether you can work at all.

7 Workers' Compensation Benefits Most Injured Workers Never Claim

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 2.6 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses are recorded annually in private industry alone — yet studies consistently show that a significant share of injured workers receive substantially less than the full compensation they are legally entitled to. The gap is rarely the result of formal denial. More often, workers simply do not know what categories of benefit exist, and insurers have no obligation to volunteer that information. The seven benefits below are among the most routinely overlooked.

1. Vocational rehabilitation and retraining costs

When a workplace injury prevents a worker from returning to their previous occupation, most state workers’ compensation systems require the insurer to fund vocational rehabilitation. This can cover skills assessment, job placement support, and tuition for retraining programs. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs administers federal vocational rehabilitation programs, and most states mirror similar obligations at the insurer level. Workers often assume this benefit requires total inability to work; the actual standard is whether they can return to comparable employment, not whether they can work at all.

2. Temporary partial disability payments

Most injured workers are familiar with temporary total disability, which replaces wages when they cannot work at all. Fewer know that temporary partial disability applies when they return to light-duty work at reduced wages. If a physician restricts you to modified duty and your employer offers only a lower-paying position — or no modified-duty position at all — you are entitled to a payment covering the gap between your pre-injury wage and current earnings. This benefit is frequently unclaimed simply because workers do not ask about it.

3. Medical appointment mileage reimbursement

Every trip to a treating physician, physical therapist, specialist, or pharmacy for a work-related injury is a reimbursable expense in virtually every U.S. jurisdiction. Carriers apply the state-established mileage rate, which tracks closely with IRS rates. Workers who commute significant distances for medical care over months of treatment can accumulate hundreds of dollars in unclaimed reimbursement. Submitting a mileage log contemporaneously — rather than reconstructing it at settlement — is the practical difference between a paid and unpaid claim.

4. Permanent partial disability for scarring or lost function

After reaching maximum medical improvement, workers with any lasting impairment — reduced range of motion, nerve damage, amputation, or significant scarring — qualify for permanent partial disability benefits. These payments are calculated using impairment ratings under state-adopted guidelines, typically the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. The impairment rating produced by the treating physician is not the only option: workers can request an independent rating if the insurer’s evaluation appears to understate the degree of permanent loss.

5. Death benefits for surviving dependents

When a workplace injury or occupational illness results in death, workers’ compensation provides death benefits to qualifying dependents — typically a surviving spouse and minor children. These benefits include a weekly income replacement payment and reimbursement of funeral and burial costs up to a statutory cap. The National Conference of State Legislatures maintains a state-by-state workers’ compensation overview detailing benefit levels. Families navigating a work-related death often focus on immediate expenses and miss the longer-term income replacement claim entirely.

6. Independent medical evaluation costs

When a carrier requires an independent medical examination, the worker bears no cost. But workers also have the right to obtain their own medical-legal evaluation from a physician of their choice in most states. Those costs — including report fees from qualified medical evaluators — are reimbursable as part of the claim if the evaluation supports the worker’s position. An attorney handling your claim will typically manage this process; workers pursuing claims without representation often skip this step and accept the carrier’s medical conclusions as final. For a detailed breakdown of how workers’ compensation attorneys use medical evidence, see the linked article.

7. Supplemental job displacement benefits

California and several other states provide supplemental job displacement vouchers for workers whose employers cannot accommodate modified-duty restrictions after maximum medical improvement. These are separate from vocational rehabilitation and function as a fixed-dollar voucher for education or job retraining at approved institutions. The benefit is triggered automatically when the employer fails to offer regular, modified, or alternative work within a defined period. Many injured workers are never informed the voucher exists; California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation publishes the relevant claim forms.

The common thread

Insurers process thousands of claims and follow internal workflows optimized for their own cost control. That does not mean they will actively suppress information about benefits, but it does mean they will not go out of their way to raise categories of compensation the claimant has not asked about. Understanding what you are entitled to — or working with representation that does — is how workers avoid leaving legitimate compensation unclaimed. For context on why some claims are challenged from the start, the article on the most common reasons claims get denied covers the patterns carriers rely on most. If you are uncertain where your own claim stands, the FAQ addresses the most common procedural questions.

Seven workers’ compensation benefits most injured workers never claim.