Report: Workers’ Comp Rates Still Falling Since Reforms

Businesses in California continue to pay less for workers' compensation insurance since statewide reforms to the system four years ago, according to a report released Monday by the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.

The report, detailing insurers' data from the third quarter of 2007, found that employers paid 25% below the average workers' compensation rate charged for the second half of 2006 and 61% below the average rate charged in 2003, before the reforms took effect. On average, employers paid $2.49 per $100 of payroll for workers' compensation coverage, according to the report.

Workers' compensation written premium for the first three quarters of 2007 is estimated to be $9.9 billion, about 23% below the amount reported for the same period in 2006, the report found.

The report also found that the claims frequency for the first three quarters of 2007 is about 7% lower than the same period last year and 46% lower than 2002 levels.

According to the report, insurers spent 55 cents on claims for every premium dollar collected in the first three quarters of 2007 -- 11 percentage points higher than the same period in 2006. However, the 2006 ratio of claims paid to premiums collected was "the lowest in many years," the bureau said (Johnson, Sacramento Business Journal, 12/18).