Taxpayers foot bill to insure contractors in Iraq

Joseph Neff of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., that the U.S. government is responsible for paying insurance premiums and benefits for all private contractors working in Iraq. "These insurance policies differ from conventional workers' comp in one major way: Domestic workers' comp is heavily regulated and analyzed, but the contractors' insurance is not. The U.S. Department of Labor monitors the number of claims and resolves disputes over benefits, but it has no authority over pricing of availability." Currently, there are about 100,000 private contractors working in Iraq.