Quote of the day
Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones issued his rate decision and is recommending that employers get a bigger rate cut than the industry was proposing.
California employers got good news in the form of a bigger rate cut than the insurance industry, and the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, was proposing. California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has issued the decision workers’ comp pure premium rates for January 2017.
The Commissioner’s decision approves an overall average decrease of that is 5.6% below the approved rate as of July 1, 2016. The overall advisory rate is $2.19 per $100 of payroll.
The rating bureau proposed only a 4.3% cut for Jan. 1 new and renewal policies. The Bureau is a private, non-governmental organization financially supported by insurance carriers. The rate cut is the fourth consecutive issued since Jan. 1, 2015, but is less than what labor and employer representatives were advocating. The public member’s independent actuary recommended an 8.6% rate cut.
Compline’s premium rating system is current within two days of when carriers file rates and many carriers have already filed 1/1 rates.
Jones decision notes that the approved pure premium rate is nearly 14 percentage points below the average pure premium rates that California workers’ comp carriers currently have on file. Noting the industry’s declining cost structure, Jones urged carriers to pass on the savings to employers by filing pure premium rates more in line with what was approved.
The approved pure premium rates are merely advisory in nature, and carriers are largely free to file and use rates of their choosing. Individual employer’s quotes for 2017 will vary based on their industry, unique loss history, and carriers’ underwriting appetite.
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