Saying a proposal to increase workers’ compensation premiums by 23 percent is much too high, advocates for injured workers spoke out Monday in California.
During a press conference prior to a hearing on examining insurers’ claims of increased “medical costs,” the advocates, including doctors, claimed the insurance industry misleadingly tagged the costs of turning down and delaying medical care as “medical costs.”
According to the advocates, the insurance industry’s own data reports “cost controls” and “medical-legal” expenses doubled in recent years, while payments to physicians fell by 40 percent from 2003 to 2007.
Workers’ compensation insurance rates have dropped through last year, and at $2.25 per $100 of payroll, are down 65% from their peak of $6.45 at year-end 2003, the lowest rate in a number of decades. The decline has reportedly trimmed insurers’ premium by more than half, from $23.5 billion in 2003 to $10.4 billion in 2008. Employers are reportedly saving $14 to $15 billion per year, while advocates claim insurers have recorded tens of billions in profits. (workersxzcompxzkit).
Figures unveiled recently by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) show California workers’ compensation insurers posted a 12.1% return in 2007. The figures indicate that workers’ compensation insurers recorded solid profits from 2004-2007, peaking at 16.4% in 2006.
Author: Robert Elliott, J.D.
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