OIR Receives Annual NCCI Filing
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) announced that it has received the annual workers’ compensation rate filing submitted by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). The rate filing provides for an overall 1% increase in workers’ compensation rates. The effective date of the filing is January 1, 2014.
As in prior years, the OIR has indicated that it expects to hold a public hearing on the filing. The hearing likely will take place in October, although a date has not yet been set.
Although the proposed increase this year is quite small, this marks the fourth consecutive year that rates have increased after they previously declined over several years following the 2003 reforms. This is a reflection that that benefits of the reforms have been fully recognized in workers’ compensation rates. The 2003 reforms generally are credited with reducing Florida’s workers’ compensation rates from among the highest in the country to much more palatable levels.