A Sacramento Senator is carrying a bill to have State Compensation Insurance Fund engage a pilot program that uses pre-paid debit cards to deliver indemnity benefits to workers’ comp claimants. Sen. Richard Pan M.D. (D-Sacramento) amended SB 880 this month to create the pilot program for temporary disability benefit payments. As currently drafted, SB 880 …
The State Compensation Insurance Fund boosted its loss adjustment expense reserves by $217 million and also shifted $448 million from losses to the LAE category during the fourth quarter to recognize the impact of recent salary increases for claims adjusters. The result changed what would have been a combined ratio of 132.8 to a whopping …
The San Francisco District Attorney filed seven counts of workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud against the owner of a Bay Area cleaning company – GMG Janitorial. It is accused of running two sets of books to lower its workers’ comp bill. Overall the owner, Gina Marie Gregori of Lafayette is facing 19 felony counts for running …
California’s workers’ comp industry is significantly more profitable than employers, legislators, regulators, and other policymakers are being lead to believe. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau pegs the industry’s 2016 combined ratio at 96%, which is quite profitable. But a study commissioned by Workers’ Comp Executive extracted State Fund’s results and confirms private carriers have …
California’s soft workers’ comp market is taking its toll on the State Compensation Insurance Fund, especially in the middle market sector. SCIF is seeing a decline in both renewal and new business with its policy count down 6.7% and earned premiums off 3.7%. The result is a 4-point increase in State Fund’s combined ratio to …
A new safety program for the roofing industry paid out over $500,000 in incentive payments last year, according to State Compensation Insurance Fund annual report. The pilot program was devised after State Fund began closing its safety group programs in 2014 and 2015. At the time, State Fund officials said they were eyeing a pilot …
The Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board is ordering a judge to take a fresh look at letters an applicant attorney sent to an agreed medical evaluator to determine if they were mere “communications” or actually provided “information” to the AME. The distinction is important as the latter must be agreed to by both parties and in …
In one of the more interesting cases around, a California employer that challenged State Compensation Insurance Fund’s application of its tiered and territorial rating system and other underwriting modifiers won a settlement that more than unwinds the 75.5% surcharge the carrier placed on its account. The disputes between the parties, however, are far from over …