Florida Approves 6.9% Average Cut in Workers’ Comp Rates But Roofers Are Worried

Florida’s insurance commissioner has approved a 6.9% average decrease in workers’ compensation rates for the voluntary market for 2026, marking the ninth straight year of rate cuts in the state.

The average rate reduction will be for new and renewal workers’ comp policies, starting Jan. 1.

Like most states, Florida has seen a steady drop in experience, or worker injury rates, in the last decade in most job classifications. Florida also has seen a decline in workers’ compensation medical costs.

“This rate decrease directly translates to reduced operating costs for businesses, encouraging investment and growth throughout Florida’s economy,” Commissioner Michael Yaworsky said in a statement.

The approval follows a September filing by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, which recommends rates or loss costs changes for 38 states. The NCCI based its recommendation on 2022 and 2023 data.

Not everyone in Florida is pleased with the decline in rates. A public hearing was held Oct. 21 and the only commenter was Mark Askins, CEO of BrightFund, the workers’ comp program offered by the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association. He warned that the continued rate cuts have discouraged most insurers from writing workers’ comp for high-risk professions, such as roofing.

“The underwriters don’t feel that they are able to get the necessary premium to pay for the loss costs over time,” Askins said at the hearing. “It’s because of this that we’ve seen in the past five to 10 years that carriers are determining the viability of making money in a particular class code has driven them out of the state.”

Only a handful of carriers now write high-risk classifications in Florida, he said. He predicted that the lower rates will mean those carriers will increase their minimum premium per employer to at least $25,000 — a level that will prove costly for some small businesses. That leaves professional employer organizations (PEOs) and the assigned risk market as the only viable options for some roofers in Florida, Askins said.

Assigned risk policies carry a “scarlet letter” stigma for employers who may want to return to the voluntary market someday, and paperwork for the assigned risk market is a difficult process for agents and employers alike, he added.

“We’re hoping to avoid that and be able to continue to offer, as we have for the past 70 years, well-priced, well-serviced,” policies for loyal customers in the roofing industry, Askins said.

Regulators at the hearing did not comment on Askins’ concerns.

Florida regulators had previously approved a 1% average decrease for 2025 – the smallest cut in years. That followed decreases of 15.1% in 2024 and 8.4 % in 2023. Since 2003, when Florida lawmakers made historic changes to the state’s workers’ compensation system, overall rates have fallen by about 85%.

This year, Florida ranked as one of the lowest-cost states – it ranked 30^th, or 10^th from the bottom, on the cost of workers’ comp insurance for employers, according to the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services’ bi-annual survey.

Topics Florida Workers' Compensation