National Study: North Dakota Workers’ Comp Premiums Lowest in Nation

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North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency says a national study has found it has the lowest premiums in the country.

Workforce Safety and Insurance (WSI) says the study undertaken every two years by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services found premium rates ranging from a low of $1.08 per $100 of payroll in North Dakota to a high of $3.97 in Alaska.

North Dakota WSI Spokesperson Mark Armstrong responded to the Insurance Journal’s question about whether both voluntary and state-run workers’ compensation premiums were compared.

“The study was conducted by state, so it compares both state run agency premiums with workers’ compensation companies,” Armstrong said.

Interim WSI director Bruce Furness says the study is “great news.”

“With the legislative cooperation of the past 15 years along with the strategic decisions made by our Board of Directors, we have come a long way,” Furness said.

Furness added that WSI has also been able to maintain low premiums while raising the benefits to workers through the legislative process over the last 15 years, such as:

Increasing death benefits;
Enhancing vocational rehabilitation benefits to help retrain
injured workers and find them employment after they are
seriously injured on the job;
Moving the waiting period from 10 to three years for cost of living; and,
Adjustments (COLAs) for those on Permanent Total Disability.

Not everyone agrees with the progress made. North Dakota AFL-CIO President Dave Kemnitz says seriously injured workers and their families have suffered as a result.

The complete national premium study can be accessed online at:
http://www4.cbs.state.or.us/ex/imd/reports/rpt/index.cfm?fuseaction=version_view&version_tk=181097
&ProgID=FEARA012