I want a law requiring the drug testing of politicians, because many hardworking men and women who suffer debilitating workplace accidents are more trustworthy than some scoundrels elected into office.

Tennessee's lieutenant governor and Senate speaker, Ron Ramsey, recently called for testing anyone who receives government assistance or workers compensation benefits for drug abuse.

That strikes me as an affront to honest, working people who have been injured on the job.

I'll leave it to someone else to speak up for government assistance recipients. My job is to report on workers comp, and for 17 years I have written about ways employers can reduce workers comp costs.

But Sen. Ramsey's message is mean and strikes me as suggesting that injured workers are no better than welfare cheats on drugs. Some days I would rank welfare cheats as a better class of people than pandering politicians. Of course, not all assistance recipients are welfare cheats. But as I said, I'll leave that argument for someone else.

A few Tennessee newspaper opinion pieces already have argued that the plan would cost more than it's worth and would wind up entangled in legal challenges.

But if it is arguably prudent to test injured workers for illegal drug use, because they might be wasting taxpayer money, it seems logical that lawmakers also should be tested because they, too, can squander public funds.

There is a lot of misunderstanding that follows a message like Sen. Ramsey's. The average person who doesn't follow workers comp issues—unless they are injured at work—will be confused by lumping together a discussion of government assistance with one on workers comp benefits.

They are not the same. Taxpayers fund public assistance, while workers comp is a form of insurance that employers pay for in return for capping their liabilities.

I hope Sen. Ramsey understands that distinction, although examples of lawmakers who didn't understand the consequences of their proposals are common. About two years ago, for example, legislators in several states proposed denying workers comp benefits to illegal immigrants. Fortunately, insurance industry lobbyists convinced them that would only increase employers' liability.

Sure, there are work comp cheats who should be prosecuted. I have written a lot about the importance of drug testing to prevent work injuries and the benefits of post-accident drug testing.

But those efforts should not to be confused with testing every injured worker who deserves quality medical benefits so they can return to productivity quickly. And they shouldn't be lumped in with testing every employee receiving indemnity benefits because a work mishap left them disabled.

I suspect the quicker way to get injured workers healthy is to treat them with dignity while providing deserved benefits, not adding humiliation to the administrative and psychosocial factors that can complicate claims.