Workers comp costs and benefits – Current state rankings

November 6th, 2006 by

Here’s a question for you: If you were to ask any employer in America how his or her workers’ compensation costs compare to similar employers in other states, what do you think the answer would be? Well, I’ve been doing that with employers I meet for a long time, and I have yet to meet one who thinks his or her costs are lower than those of employers in other states.
Moreover, if you expand the question to inquire about employee benefits, most employers will venture that indemnity benefits paid in other states are most likely lower than what’s doled out in theirs.
It’s the old, “The grass is always greener” thing. But is it really, and how would you know? And here’s one last question: Suppose those employers really wanted to know the comparative cost and benefit data for their state and decided to ask a room full of insurance professionals about it. What do you think the insurance professionals would say?
For many years, we at Lynch Ryan have tracked research reports from three highly credible organizations that produce state rankings of workers’ compensation costs and benefits, one a private actuarial firm, another an Oregonian governmental entity and the third a non-profit, Washington, DC, foundation.
Actuarial & Technical Solutions, Inc, an actuarial consulting firm located in Ronkonkoma, NY, has been publishing state cost and benefit data annually since 1992. Its 2006 report, Workers’ Compensation State Rankings – Manufacturing Industry Costs and Statutory Benefit Provisions, has been released within the last month.
The Oregon Department of Consumer & Business Services publishes comparative cost data every two even-numbered years. Oregon’s 2006 Workers’ Compensation Premium Rate Ranking Summary Report was released this past Friday, 4 November 2006 (the complete report won’t be published for another two to three months).
And the National Foundation for Unemployment Compensation and Workers’ Compensation (UWC), headquartered in Washington, DC, has, since 1984, published annual, and class specific, comparative state data in a report titled, Fiscal Data for State Workers’ Compensation Systems. In this report. you’ll find annual data and total indemnity and medical benefit payments over the last 12 years.
The UWC has also published a Research Bulletin called, State Workers’ Compensation Legislation and Related Changes Adopted in 2005. Perusing that somewhat eye-glazing, 77 page report offers up such tidbits as Maryland’s House Bill 461, which “Applies workers’ compensation occupational disease presumptions to Montgomery County correctional officers who suffer from heart disease or hypertension (my italics) resulting in partial or total disability or death,” effective 1 October 2005. Wow!
The Oregon reports are free; Actuarial & Technical Solutions charges $105 for a single report, and the UWC reports costs $25 for those who are not members of the Foundation ($20 for those who are).
The first thing you need to know about the three comparative cost reports is that, while they use different methodologies, they all pretty much arrive at the same place. For the most part their rankings are in general agreement. One state may be ranked #5 in one report and #7 in another. Personally, that’s close enough for me.
All three reports contain some rankings that appear predictable, but there are surprises and paradoxes, too. For example, notwithstanding changes to its law, most workers’ compensation professionals would expect California to be at or near the top of the cost rankings, and they’d be right. But who knew that my home state, Massachusetts, which so many of my conservative friends continue to call Taxachusetts, would rank way down at the bottom, either 43rd or 47th, depending on whose report you read? That’s a surprise, and here’s a paradox: Despite ranking as the least costly of the major industrial states in which to buy workers’ compensation, Massachusetts provides higher benefits than any other state except Nevada, which ranks in the middle of the pack in terms of cost.
We have found the data mined from these reports, as well as others, invaluable as we consult to employers and insurers around America. Searching out and understanding this research, and doing our own, as well, allows us to put costs and benefits in perspective and is very helpful in designing reasonable and achievable cost reduction targets for our clients.
I urge the workers’ compensation professionals among our readers to get and read the reports. It’s time well spent. If you’d rather not do that, but have some questions about them, you can email us at communicationsATworkerscompinsiderDOTcom (insert the @ and “.” where indicated – we avoid spelling it out to foil the spam bots). Or, if you’d prefer, call anyone at Lynch Ryan (my direct line is 781-431-0458, Ext 1). We’d love to hear from you.
By the way, if you do get in touch, let us know what you think of the Insider and if there’s anything you‘d like to see us do to make it even better.