This form of insurance is set to decrease by 5 percent within 2014, which will certainly be welcome.
Jim Donelon, the state commissioner has now announced that Louisiana workers compensation rates will be decreasing as of May 1, 2014, by an average of 5.1 percent.
The decrease was approved by the commissioner following a recommendation by the NCCI.
He gave the nod to the reduced Louisiana workers compensation rates after the National Council on Compensation Insurance made its recommendation for a 5 percent reduction as a result of notably improved safety in the workplace. As there are fewer workers becoming injured and the injuries are becoming less severe across the majority of employment divisions, it means that the costs associated with providing the coverage are also on their
way down.
The decrease in the cost and the rates for Louisiana workers compensation insurance is positive news for the state.
According to Commissioner Donelon, “The reduction in the cost of workers’ compensation insurance is good news for our state’s business community as businesses continue to struggle faced with new mandatory health insurance provisions of the Affordable Care Act and with recovery efforts since the national economic recession of 2008.”
He also added that the marketplace for this coverage is quite a competitive one and certain improvement signs are starting to appear, particularly in the worker safety improvement area. The NCII various analyses on the data and files loss costs or rates related to this form of coverage in 35 of the states across the country. The majority of the carriers of this coverage in Louisiana use the annual loss cost filing from the NCCI in order to help to perform their rate calculations.
Before the upcoming reduction in the rates, the most recent decrease had been in 2010, when it dropped by 4.3 percent. When the most recent reduction goes into effect, it will represent a total drop of 35 percent that has occurred since 2004.
The Department of Insurance in the state stated that the top five insurance writers in this sector in the state in 2012 were Louisiana Workers Compensation Corporation (21 percent), Liberty Mutual Group (12.6 percent), LUBA Casualty Insurance Co. (8.8 percent), American International Group (7.4 percent), and Zurich Group (7.2 percent).
