OIR Approves Workers Compensation Rate Decrease
The Office of Insurance Regulation has approved a statewide average rate decrease of 5.2% for workers’ compensation insurance effective as of January 1, 2015. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) initially filed for a 2.5% decrease in August but later amended the filing to provide for a 3.3% decrease. The OIR reviewed the filing and conducted a public hearing in October to further evaluate the proposed rates. As a result of this review, the OIR concluded that NCCI had not fully justified certain components of the rate filing. The OIR indicated, among other things, that the selected medical trend had not been justified, the proposed profit and contingency factor was too high, the selected investment yield was too low, and the selected increase in production expenses was too high. The OIR therefore issued an order disapproving NCCI’s filing but indicating that it would approve a revised filing making the changes it identified. NCCI responded by making a filing with the listed changes, leading to the 5.2% rate decrease that the OIR approved.