Workers’ Comp Insurance Rates Will Decline in 2015

Many Connecticut employers will pay lower workers’ compensation insurance premiums effective Jan. 1, 2015.

The Connecticut Insurance Department has approved rates for policies purchased in the normal, or voluntary, market that will decline by 0.6% overall; rates for assigned risk policies will drop by 0.5%.

Costs for self-insured companies will likely decline as well, since their costs generally mirror those for insured businesses.

The rate changes were proposed by the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. (NCCI), which analyzes and recommends workers’ compensation rates for insurers in more than 40 states.

According to NCCI, primary drivers of the changes include:

• A continuing downward trend in claims frequency
• Passage during the 2014 General Assembly session of SB 61, a bill to control rising workers’ compensation costs by imposing a Medicare-based fee schedule for determining rates for workers’-compensation-related services at hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers

<p> The proposed rates are “pure premium” rates, which do not include costs associated with administration, premium taxes, and other expenses—nor do they take companies’ claims experience into consideration.

Rates will take effect for policies as they are purchased or renewed on or after Jan. 1, 2015.

Here’s how the rates break down by industry:

Industry                    Voluntary                Assigned
                                   Market                     Risk Market

Manufacturing            – 0.5%                      – 0.4%

Contracting                – 0.5%                      – 0.4%

Office & Clerical         – 3.2%                      – 3.1%

Goods & Services      + 0.6%                     + 0.7%

Miscellaneous            – 1.4%                      – 1.3%

Overall                      – 0.6%                       – 0.5%

For more information, contact CBIA’s Eric Gjede at 860.244.1931 | eric.gjede@cbia.com | @egjede