Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Oregon Says Workers’ Comp Must Pay for Weight Loss
Aug 28 2009 // Weight-loss surgery can be covered by state workers’ compensation insurance, provided it is needed to treat a job-related injury, according to an Oregon court. The Oregon Supreme Court ruled Thursday that SAIF Corp.,...
AmTrust to Buy Workers’ Compensation Unit CyberComp from Swiss Re
Aug 27 2009 // New York-based AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. has agreed to acquire CyberComp, the workers’ compensation business unit of Swiss Re, in a renewal rights transaction. Serving the workers’ compensation needs of...
Kentucky Workers’ Compensation Costs Drop for 4th Straight Year
Aug 27 2009 // Kentucky workers’ compensation costs are continuing to drop, with latest figures showing an average reduction of 6.4 percent. Insurance Commissioner Sharon P. Clark has approved the industry’s loss cost...
Farm Workers Sue New Mexico for Workers’ Compensation Coverage
Aug 27 2009 // Two organizations that provide services to farm workers and two injured farm workers want the New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Administration to stop excluding farm and ranch workers from coverage. HELP-New Mexico,...
Employers Direct Sheds Direct Calif. Workers’ Comp; Will Return with Brokers
Aug 26 2009 // Just a short time after announcing it was leaving the California workers’ compensation insurance market because it was not profitable, Employers Direct Insurance Co. is announcing it is back. The...
California’s State Insurance Fund Sale Considered Unlikely
Aug 26 2009 // The state of California plans to sell off some of its State Compensation Insurance Fund, which writes workers’ compensation policies, for $1 billion. Or does it? A growing number of officials and experts now think...
Florida, Georgia Insurer First Commercial to Be Liquidated
Aug 26 2009 // Miami-based First Commercial Insurance Co. and its subsidiary have been declared insolvent and ordered liquidated about six weeks after being placed under state control. All policies written by FCIC and its subsidiary,...
Workers’ Compensation Rate Hike Proposed for 2010 in Iowa
Aug 24 2009 // The Iowa Insurance Division reported that the National Council on Compensation Insurance has made a rate filing which affects the premium rates for workers’ compensation insurance. The rate filing proposes an overall...
$1 Billion Suit Against AIG Over Workers’ Compensation Dismissed
Aug 21 2009 // American International Group Inc. won dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing the troubled insurer of fraudulently shortchanging state workers’ compensation pools out of more than $1 billion. However,...
Florida Workers’ Compensation Insurers Propose 6.8% Rate Cut
Aug 21 2009 // Florida workers’ compensation insurers are recommending an overall average rate decrease of 6.8 percent statewide, which state officials said would save employers more than $166 million. Florida Insurance...
Californian Held in State Workers’ Compensation Fund $1.4 Million Fraud
Aug 20 2009 // The California Department of Insurance has announced that Joseph Baiden, 56, of Diamond Bar, surrendered yesterday morning to the Los Angeles Superior Court pursuant to an arrest warrant issued for eight counts of...
Four Commercial Auto Endorsements Every Insured Should Consider
Aug 18 2009 // Insurance Services Office (ISO) lists more than 100 endorsements available for use with the business auto policy (BAP) (the total number varies by state). Out of that heap of policy-altering endorsements, most designed to...
Arkansas: Employers Can’t Make Direct Payment for Work Comp Bills
Aug 18 2009 // The Arkansas Insurance Department has issued a reminder that employers should not make direct payments for employees’ medical bills that were incurred on small workers’ compensation claims. The department says...
Colorado Workers’ Compensation Insurer Pinnacol Defends Agent Perks
Aug 17 2009 // Colorado’s dominant workers compensation insurer last week defended its spending on travel and entertainment for its agents, telling Colorado lawmakers it’s good for morale and helps lower costs in the long...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Rating Bureau to Recommend 22.8% Increase in Rates
Aug 13 2009 // The WCIRB will submit a filing to the California Department of Insurance (CDI) recommending an approximate 22.8 percent increase in pure premium rates (or “claims cost benchmark”) effective Jan. 1, 2010. The...
Iowa, Minnesota Get ‘A’, 9 States ‘F’ in Best, Worst States for Workers’ Comp
Aug 13 2009 // Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Utah and Virginia do the best job handling workers’ compensation injuries, while Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas and Wyoming perform the worst. That’s...
Flocks, Pearson Named to California Workers’ Compensation Bureau
Aug 12 2009 // California Insurance Commissioner Poizner has appointed Sara Flocks, of San Francisco and Lee Pearson, of Rancho Murieta to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau Governing Committee. Pearson, currently...
The Hartford to Return $48 Million in Florida Workers’ Comp Profits
Aug 12 2009 // Florida officials said that Hartford Financial Services Group will issue refunds or credits totaling $48.2 million to Florida businesses for excess profits the insurer earned on policies written from 2004 through 2006. The...
Virginia to Consider Increase for Some Workers’ Comp Rates
Aug 12 2009 // The Virginia State Corporation Commission will consider a request to raise workers’ compensation premiums at a meeting in October. The National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. (NCCI), a rate service...
