Workers”™ compensation insurance carriers have requested to increase a key pricing determinant 2.5 percent in 2010 and also asked for a double-digit percentage rise in the rates they charge the employers most at risk of workplace injuries.
At deadline, the Connecticut Insurance Department had yet to approve the increases sought by the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla.-based organization that prepares rate requests on behalf of the industry in many states.
Under Connecticut law, businesses must provide workers”™ compensation insurance for their employees. New York and Connecticut had the 19th and 20th highest workers”™ compensation rates nationally in 2008, according to a biennial study by the Oregon Department of Consumer & Business Services.
NCCI filed for workers”™ comp carriers to charge an additional 2.5 percent of the pure premium loss costs they use to set rates, covering medical claims and wage reimbursement, though it would cut the formula used for goods and services customers by 6.5 percent.
If approved, carriers would also increase rates they charge in the assigned risk plan, reserved for business customers that are unable to secure adequate coverage in the regular market due to their workplace hazards or accident history.
