Written premium totals in California’s workers’ comp market are up nearly 5% through the first half of the year at $8.6 billion on a gross of deductible basis. That compares to $8.2 billion carriers reported during the first half of 2025. California ended 2025 with $15.7 billion in written workers’ comp premium. The Workers’ Compensation …
Payments to qualified medical evaluators for medical-legal services are 70% higher per claim than a decade ago. Researchers note that payments for med-legal services now account for 17% of all …
The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau adopted updates to its data quality enforcement program that could lead to more carriers facing sanctions for classification errors. The changes also clarify that carriers could face fines under each section of the Premium Audit Accuracy Program if violations are found. The Bureau is a private organization with quasi-governmental …
In a previous story, Workers’ Comp Executive reported about a company, GT’s Living Foods (GTLF), a kombucha bottling company, which filed an appeal with the CDI to challenge the calculation of its 850 X-Mod for 2022 and its 999+ X-Mod for 2023. The company admits the X-Mods were inflated because it hadn’t reported over $100 …
The surge in cumulative trauma claims in California’s workers’ comp system is having a ripple effect across the claims environment. Members of the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s actuarial committee heard earlier this month that the rise in CT claims is also driving up the number of liens and use of compromise and release (C&Rs) …
Reports by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau and the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute both show that workers’ comp medical costs in California overall are growing faster than inflation. This recent upward trend contrasts sharply with several years of flat or declining rates in California’s workers’ comp system. Overall, the WCIRB found that paid medical …
A startup company focused on converting plastic waste into construction materials withdrew the appeal it filed with the California Department of Insurance’s Administrative Hearing Bureau after a disputed classification assignment was changed. The dispute between ByFusion Global and CompWest Insurance Company prompted the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau to conduct a classification inspection that helped …
New industry research shows that one out of every six workers’ comp claims filed in California in 2025 was for a cumulative trauma injury. The trend is clear compared with 2018, when the rate was one out of every 11 claims. An analysis by the California Workers’ Compensation Institute notes that the trend is accelerating …