As a new survey points out, more than 40 percent of all businesses providing access to voluntary accident and disability insurance noted declines in their workers compensation claims.
The Aflac Workers Compensation Report, an online survey conducted by Lieberman Research Worldwide on behalf of Aflac, questioned 600 employers from small, medium and large U.S. companies if they provided employees with access to accident or disability insurance and, if so, whether they noted a corresponding decline in workers compensation claims.
When responses were broken down due to company size, the survey discovered that 55 percent of large companies that provide access to accident insurance experienced a drop in workers comp claims, while 34 percent of small- and medium-sized companies each reported declines. These findings are important considering workers comp benefits paid to injured workers in 2011 increased, costing American employers $77.1 billion.
In addition to asking employers if they could confirm declines in claims, the survey also inquired about the significance of those declines.
Nearly Half of Large Companies See Overall Declines
According to the responses of companies that provide access to voluntary accident insurance — nearly half (47 percent) of large employers stated overall declines in workers comp claims.
Also, 43 percent of small companies and 33 percent of medium companies noted declines.
Tye Elliott, Aflac vice president of Core Broker Sales, remarked “For years, insurance agents and brokers have heard anecdotal rumors linking voluntary accident and disability insurance to reduced workers compensation claims, and we learned the anecdotes are true based on our recent study results.
“These findings confirm the correlation between accident and disability insurance and reduced workers compensation claims. Employers can now weigh the potential positive financial effects of offering accident and disability insurance against the costs of workers compensation claims.”
