California Workers’ Comp Bureau Issues Report on 3Q Insurer Experience

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California’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau on Tuesday issued its report on statewide workers’ comp insurer loss and premium experience through Sept 30, which among other things shows that the average rate charged per $100 of payroll is down from last year.

Findings of the WCIRB report include:

California written premium was $14.1 billion for the first nine months of 2016. That is 5 percent above the written premium reported for the first nine months of 2015.
The projected industry average charged rate per $100 of payroll for policies incepting between July 1 and Sept. 30 is $2.65. This is 7 percent below the average rate charged for the first six months of 2016 and 13 percent below the average rate charged for the first six months of 2015.
The WCIRB projects total ultimate losses and allocated loss adjustment expense for accident year 2015 to be $12.4 billion, which is 6 percent above the projection for accident year 2014 and 31 percent above the projection for accident year 2009.
The indemnity claim frequency for accident year 2015 is expected to be 0.2 percent below the frequency for 2014 but 14 percent above the frequency for 2009. The frequency increase experienced since 2009 is largely attributed to increases in cumulative injury claims, late reported indemnity claims, claims involving injuries to multiple body parts, and claims from the Los Angeles Basin area.
The average cost of a 2015 indemnity claim is expected to be roughly $81,000, which is 3 percent higher than the projected severity for 2014 and 6 percent higher than that for 2013. The projected average medical cost of a 2015 indemnity claim is slightly above that for 2014 but is 10 percent below the projected average medical cost for 2011, largely a result of medical cost savings arising from SB 863.