Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

Calif. State Fund Revises Broker of Record Policy

Nov 9 2010 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund announced it has revised its broker of record policy, as well as filed for a 5.2 percent overall rate increase for 2011. The rate filing also includes changes that it...

Some Question Data on Low Worker Injury Rates in North, South Carolina

Nov 8 2010 // A new federal study estimating the rate of workplace injuries last year finds North and South Carolina among the country’s safest in which to work. But some workplace safety experts doubt whether the rates accurately...

Massachusetts Revises Workers’ Comp Paperwork Snafu

Nov 5 2010 // Bowing to pressure from insurers and agent groups, Massachusetts safety regulators have eased new, workers’ comp paperwork requirements for some out-of-state contractors. At issue is a form used by inspectors to...

Washington Voters Reject Privatization of Workers’ Compensation System

Nov 3 2010 // Voters in the state of Washington have rejected a measure to inject private insurer competition into the state’s workers’ compensation system. The insurance industry hoped to open up the state’s...

Calif. State Fund: Getting Better Day by Day

Nov 3 2010 // In the ever controversial topic of workers’ compensation insurance in California, State Compensation Insurance Fund President and CEO Tom Rowe seemingly offers a bit of Zen. Rowe, who took the helm of the company in...

Alabama Weighs 12.4% Drop in Workers’ Compensation Costs

Nov 2 2010 // Alabama insurance officials will consider an industry proposal to lower workers’ compensation loss costs in the state at a public hearing tomorrow in Montgomery. Citing reduced claims frequency, workers’...

Medical Group Earns $788K Texas Mutual Dividend

Nov 2 2010 // Texas Mutual Insurance Co. announced a $788,170 dividend to the Texas Medical Group (TMG). The workers’ compensation purchasing group dividend was based largely on TMG’s loss ratio. TMG has earned $1,726,338 in...

Maine Court: Injury en Route to Workers’ Comp Hearing Not Covered

Nov 1 2010 // Maine’s supreme court says a workers’ compensation beneficiary isn’t eligible for additional benefits for a car crash that happened en route to a mediation meeting. Kurt Feiereisen, a NewPage employee,...

North Carolina Has High Workers’ Compensation Medical Costs

Nov 1 2010 // North Carolina’s medical costs per workers’ compensation claim were among the highest in a study of 15 states, according to a new report. The study by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Workers Compensation Research...

Arkansas Workers’ Comp Rates Among the Lowest in the Nation

Nov 1 2010 // Arkansas has one of the lowest workers’ compensation premium rates in the nation, at $1.18 per $100 of payroll, according to a new study conducted by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services. Oklahoma...

Calif. State Fund: Getting Better Day by Day

Nov 1 2010 // Agents, Brokers Will Have Even Bigger Part in State Fund’s Distribution Strategy In the ever controversial topic of workers’ compensation insurance in California, State Compensation Insurance Fund President and...

Montanans Pay Highest Workers’ Comp Insurance Rates

Nov 1 2010 // Montana has the highest workers’ compensation premium rates in the nation, at $3.33 per $100 of payroll, followed next by Alaska, which has a rate of $3.10 per $100 of payroll, according to a new study. In the...

People

Nov 1 2010 // Juan Andrade stepped down as Commercial Markets president at The Hartford to join Ace as president of the insurers’ Global Personal Lines and Small Commercial Insurance division. He will assume the new position with...

Nov 1 2010 // Colorado Raising Workers’ Comp Insurance Loss Costs 3.4% Most Colorado employers will be looking at an average 3.4 percent increase in workers’ compensation insurance loss costs, increasing the overall premiums...

Medical Cost per Worker High in Wisconsin; Utilization Low

Oct 29 2010 // Higher medical costs per claim in Wisconsin are offset by much lower utilization of medical services in the state’s workers compensation system. As a result, medical payments per workers’ comp claim in...

Texas Workers’ Comp Medical Costs Per Claim Stabilizing

Oct 29 2010 // After four years of decreases, medical costs per workers’ compensation claim in Texas stabilized in 2007, reflecting the impact of reforms enacted in 2001 and much of those passed in 2005, according to a study by the...

Alabama City Denies Workers’ Compensation for Injured Off-Duty Cop

Oct 29 2010 // Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said the city is not able to grant workers’ compensation benefits to the family of injured police Cpl. David Brown. The family filed a lawsuit against the city seeking the benefits for...

Massachusetts Prison Guard Accused of Workers’ Comp Fraud

Oct 29 2010 // A former Massachusetts prison guard has pleaded not guilty to charges that he ran long-distance races while collecting worker’s compensation for an on-the-job injury he said made it impossible to do strenuous...

North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Rates Given a Nudge

Oct 27 2010 // North Carolina employers’ costs for workers’ compensation will inch up next spring under an agreement reached between the state and insurers. The settlement ordered a 0.6 percent increase for voluntary market...

Business, Labor Battle Over Wash. Workers’ Comp Initiative

Oct 27 2010 // A seemingly dry topic that actually generates some of the most heated political battles in Washington state is on the ballot for voters this year: workers’ compensation insurance. Washington is one of four states...