California’s workers’ comp system grew to $13.1 billion in written premium last year after the application of deductible credits and marked the sixth straight year that it expanded by $1 billion or more. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau says 2016 is likely to be a different story, however, with premium being flat or maybe …
The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau is pushing ahead with plans to clarify existing regulations governing first aid claims. It intends to provide clearer guidance to employers on what constitutes a first aid claim, and when they must be reported to workers’ comp carriers. The ‘cliff notes’ version today is that they must be reported …
Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones heard strong support from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau and the public’s actuary for a mid-year rate cut of 5% to 7% due to continuing improvement on the medical cost front. However, the Commissioner also heard that the rate cut could be even larger if not for the continued deterioration …
California employers in many industries could be in for a shock if Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones approves the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s proposed pure premium rates and carriers adjust rates as a result. In many cases, the employers would be pleasantly surprised with a significant rate cut, but others could face a near doubling …
The Bureau is recommending a roughly 5% cut in the state’s overall advisory pure premium rates. Lower than expected medical inflation and better than expected claim frequency trends inform the rate decrease. Some actuaries remain concerned, however, that workers’ comp medical costs will rebound as they have after past reforms and quickly return to high single- …
The Bureau’s governing committee just approved filing for a 4.9% mid-year cut to the advisory pure premium rates due to steady improvement in medical costs and low medical inflation. The vote was unanimous between the carrier and public representatives present. The Bureau is a private non-governmental organization financially supported by insurance carriers. “In essence, we’ve …
California’s workers’ comp system is quickly developing a lien problem again as the number of liens being filed nearly doubled last year. The total edged to near pre-reform levels at just over 400,000 liens statewide. The irony is palatable in Oakland. Newly available data indicates that the high rate of filings is driven by a …
California is on the path to raising minimum wage rates 50% to $15 per hour and experts agree that the change will have a significant impact on employers’ workers’ comp costs. The cost implications are greatest for those with large numbers of minimum wage workers, but the impact will not necessarily stop just with them. …