View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2022/09/30/687459.htm

Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Costs to Fall in 2023

Connecticut workers’ compensation costs to employers are on their way down, again.

The industry’s National Council on Compensation Insurance’s (NCCI) has proposed an overall average change of -3.0% to the current voluntary loss costs and no change to the current assigned risk rate level. The new rates would take effect on January 1, 2023.

Insurance Commissioner Andrew N. Mais announced a public comment period that ends on Oct. 13. He said the department is not planning on holding a public hearing on this NCCI recommendation.

The voluntary loss costs change varies by industry group, including reductions of 5.3% in office/clerical; 4.6% in contracting; 2.8% in goods and services; and 2.5% in manufacturing.

In the assigned risk market, NCCI said an increase in expenses of about 3% was offset by a similar improvement in experience.

NCCI has said the data behind this recommendation excludes reported COVID-19-related claims to “better reflect the conditions likely to prevail during the proposed effective period.”

Workers’ compensation costs also fell in 2022. Voluntary loss costs went down 14.1%, while assigned risk rates fell 8.2%, upon NCCI’s recommendation.

Each workers compensation insurer must add other costs including commissions and taxes to the approved loss costs to compute the final workers compensation rates it intends to charge.

Employers unable to obtain coverage in the voluntary market can apply for coverage in the assigned risk market.

The latest filing reports on some trends in the state’s workers’ compensation system including:

• A decrease in medical-only claims is particularly notable in Connecticut, with policy year 2020 exhibiting about a 23% decrease in medical-only claim counts and 18% decrease in incurred medical losses.
• Despite a small uptick in the latest policy year, Connecticut’s lost-time claim frequency has generally declined when viewed over the most recent eight years.
• After adjusting to a common wage level, Connecticut’s indemnity and medical average cost per case figures have experienced relatively more variability in recent years with large increases in policy year 2019 followed by moderate to large decreases in policy year 2020.