With Commissioner’s OK, Wisconsin Workers’ Comp Rates to Fall by 8.8%

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Wisconsin’s chief insurance regulator has approved an overall 8.84% decrease in workers’ compensation premium rates.

The new rates approved by Commissioner of Insurance Mark Afable are effective Oct. 1, 2019, and are expected to save Wisconsin businesses more than $170 million in 2020.

This is the fourth consecutive year workers’ comp rates have declined in Wisconsin. The overall rates decreased by 6.03 percent in 2018, 8.46 percent in 2017, and 3.19 percent in 2016.

Wisconsin’s reductions in workers’ comp rates are consistent with the national trend. Wisconsin has also shown positive results when compared to other states that employ a similar benefit system. An analysis by the independent Worker’s Compensation Research Institute showed the duration of temporary disability in Wisconsin is about two weeks shorter than is typical in the other states studied, which means that Wisconsin workers are able to get back to work faster after an injury occurs.

Worker’s compensation rates are adjusted annually by a committee of actuaries from the Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau (WCRB), an organization created by state law. The committee analyzes claims from hundreds of categories of professions throughout the state and submits rate recommendations to the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, which has final approval over the rates.

The five major industry groups for workers’ compensation in Wisconsin all are in line for a rate decrease. Contracting will have an 11.21 percent decrease; 8.75 percent for Office and Clerical; 8.66 percent for the Goods and Services industry group; and 8.11 percent for both the Manufacturing and Miscellaneous industry groups. Of the 525 total workers’ compensation class codes included in the 2019 rate filing, 93 percent will see a rate decrease.

Source: Wisconsin’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI)