"Workers comp is no different from a car accident."

Exactly. A settlement from a car accident, to repair the car, is sometimes not used to repair the car. But then the owner cannot claim they found more damage that should be repaired under the same claim, when they didn't use the first amount to make any repairs. Having $1700 front bumper cover damage, then finding the motor mounts broke (a typical follow up claim), but not using the first $1700 for the bumper, is the same as this story line. Plenty of people are driving around with damaged cars, and they pocketed the money from the insurance company.