State OIR reviews workers comp rate reduction filing by NCCI
On October 13 , 2020 , the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation ( OIR ) conducted a public hearing to discuss National Council on Compensation Insurance ’ s ( NCCI ) proposed overall average statewide workers ’ compensation premium decrease of -5.7 % with an effective date of January 1 , 2021 . Founded in 1923 , NCCI is a workers compensation advisory and rating organization in 37 states , headquartered in Boca Raton , Florida . NCCI files on behalf of all of Florida ’ s workers ’ compensation insurance companies .
Florida has had historic workers compensation rate level changes . Since 2003 , the industry has lowered rates cumulatively by 67.8 % and NUCA of Florida has worked each year to help pass legislative initiatives to lower workers compensation rates for the construction industry specifically . Using the most recent two full-policy years of data , 2018 and 2019 , Jay Rosen , Practice Leader and Senior Actuary for NCCI , presented the factors affecting rate-filing to further decrease the rates . Changes in workers compensation filing trends and benefits are down 9.0 %. Changes in production and general business expenses are up 0.3 percent . Changes in profit and contingencies are up 2.5 %. Changes in loss-based expenses are up 0.7 %. Cumulatively , NCCI believes this justifies a -5.7 % rate reduction . fees in worker ’ s compensation cases , NCCI pointed out how attorney ’ s fees have risen to almost 25 % of the settlements . This is up from 13 % of the settlements in 2015 . Attorney involvement in workers ’ compensation disputes has been increasing since the 2016 Supreme Court ruling . Fortunately , those increased legal costs are outweighed by other positive trends in the workers ’ compensation system , including a reduced number of on-the-job injuries and improving technology that helps insurance companies better manage health-care costs . Rosen pointed out that new health-care technology allows for quicker treatment of injured workers and changes in prescribing drugs .
While there were very many largely technical questions from the panelists of OIR staff led by Commissioner David Altmaier , there were no questions from the general public , which is unusual for a worker ’ s compensation rate hearing . This may be largely due to the meeting being virtual and a lack of participation by the public due to COVID-19 . The Commissioner did not give a timetable for when a ruling will be made , however he did hope it would be finished within the next month or so .
When asked about the 2016 Castellanos case when the Florida Supreme Court struck down a law that limited attorney ’ s
26 DITCHMEN • OCTOBER 2020