Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.

CALIF. FUND SEEKS RATE DECREASE

Jan 12 2004 // State Compensation Insurance Fund—California’s largest workers’ compensation insurance carrier—has filed for an average 2.9 percent rate decrease effective Jan. 1, 2004. The decrease is within the range...

CALIF. SEES REDUCTIONS IN WC RATE FILINGS

Jan 12 2004 // Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced that workers’ compensation pure premium rates filed by insurers to date are below current rates by an average 3.6 percent, a “clear sign” that the historic...

Midwest Comp Market: Proceed With Caution

Jan 12 2004 // The workers’ compensation segment in Midwestern states is not immune to the broad trends in the line nationally — including poor combined ratios, escalating medical costs and severe underreserving — but no...

Georgia Commissioner Has State on the Right Track

Jan 12 2004 // Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has seen a number of changes in his department in his nine years in office. With three years left to serve, Oxendine hopes to see even more improvement as the department reaches...

Workers’ Comp

Jan 12 2004 // Nuts & Bolts: AmTrust North America is offering a workers’ compensation market. Dollars: Minimum premium of $500. No deductibles. Carrier: Rated “A-.” Technology Insurance Co., Rochdale Insurance Co....

Fla. Goes on Offensive to Fight Fraud

Jan 12 2004 // Florida is like many other states when it comes to insurance fraud — it recognizes the problem and is doing something about it. Recently, Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher and Bob Neumann, director of the Division of...

TEXAS WC COMMITTEE CHOSEN:

Jan 12 2004 // Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst has formed the Senate Select Committee on Workers’ Compensation to work on solutions to what he called a developing crisis in workers’ comp. Senator Todd Staples was appointed...

Wash. L&I Adopts 9.8 Percent Rate Increase for 2004

Jan 12 2004 // The Washington Department of Labor and Industries announced a 9.8 percent general rate increase in workers’ compensation premiums, effective Jan. 1, 2004. Even with this rate increase, next year’s average rates...

Schwarzenegger Governs One-Eighth of the U.S. Population

Jan 12 2004 // The U.S. Census Bureau’s Census 2000 estimated the population of the California at 33,871,648. Approximately 76 percent of the adult residents had graduated from high school and about 16 percent had earned a college...

PIANY Seeks Legislators’ Help on Fraud, Other Issues

Jan 9 2004 // At a recent meeting with New York legislators, representatives of the Professional Insurance Agents of New York State Inc. stressed the need fight to auto insurance fraud; to define the permanent status of the New York...

Medford Man Sentenced for Conspiracy and Tax Fraud, in Workers’ Comp Scam

Jan 9 2004 // Roland Joy of Medford Mass. has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Rya W. Zobel to 4 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by 2 years of supervised release, the first 4 months of which are to be served in home...

SBAC Notes Major Calif. Workers’ Comp Initiative

Jan 2 2004 // In a move to combat California’s out-of-control workers compensation system, the Small Business Action Committee (SBAC) announced that it has filed an initiative to reportedly reduce the cost of the system by as much...

Venture Programs Expands Preferred Club Program Through Alliance with ACE Westchester Specialty Group

Dec 30 2003 // Venture Programs (www.ventureprograms.com), a provider in the design and underwriting of select industry-focused insurance packages, announced a program alliance with ACE Westchester Specialty Group, part of the ACE Group...

N.D. Man Ordered to Pay $55,000 Restitution for Comp Fraud

Dec 30 2003 // A Mandan, N.D., man was ordered to pay $54,679 in restitution to Workforce Safety & Insurance after pleading guilty to fraud in South Central District Court Dec. 16, according to a statement released by the North...

N. Dak. WSI Issues Santa Claus Special Workers Comp Coverage

Dec 23 2003 // In a special bulletin from Bismarck, North Dakota the state’s Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI) office confirmed that, “In response to a request postmarked from the North Pole, it has granted Santa Claus...

Employers Direct Cuts Calif. Rates More than Twice State Average

Dec 19 2003 // Employers Direct Insurance Company has cut its workers’ compensation insurance rates by 8.2 percent in its current filing with the California Department of Insurance. This decrease is reportedly more than twice the...

ROES Delivers More Efficient Reporting System to Frank Gates Service Co.

Dec 18 2003 // Red Oak E-Commerce Solutions, Inc. (ROES), a leader in Internet based claim reporting systems, announced that Frank Gates Service Companies has switched their workers’ compensation injury reporting to ROES’...

ACE Risk Management’s WC Unit Enters Texas Non-Subscriber Market

Dec 18 2003 // ACE Risk Management (ARM), a division of ACE USA, announced the launch of a new product for Texas employers who have opted not to provide workers’ compensation insurance to their employees under the state...

Pinnacol Assurance To Reach Division of Insurance Surplus Goal

Dec 18 2003 // Pinnacol Assurance, Colorado’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance, announced today the company is about to reach its long-term surplus goal — several years ahead of schedule. Pinnacol...

Mark Ashcraft Joins Bickmore Risk Services as Consultant

Dec 17 2003 // Mark Ashcraft, former manager of the State of California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Office of Self Insurance Plans (DIR-OSIP), recently joined Sacramento-based Bickmore Risk Services (BRS) as a consultant...