National Council on Compensation Insurance News

Report Shows Insurers Recognizing ‘Mega’ Claims More Quickly

The share of “mega” workers’ compensation claims — those expected to cost $3 million or more — climbed steadily since 2013 after dropping as construction employment declined sharply during the Great Recession, according to a report by the National Council …

Economist Says COVID-19 Likely to Strip Profits Out of Work Comp

The workers’ compensation line is unlikely to generate a profit this year and may not recover in 2021, an insurance industry economist said during a webcast Thursday. Steven N. Weisbart, senior vice president and chief economist for the Insurance Information …

Vehicle Accidents an Exception Amid Declining Number of Work Injuries

While the frequency of workers’ compensation claims has continued a decades-long decline, the number of work injuries caused by motor vehicle accidents has continued a steady increase that began in 2011, according to a new report by the National Council …

More States Push COVID-19 Claims to Work Comp; Potential Cost Anyone’s Guess

Regulators and lawmakers in more states are demanding that workers who claim they were sickened by COVID-19 get a fair hearing, if not an outright presumption in their favor. The Wyoming House of Representatives and Senate both passed a bill …

Work Comp May Need Backstop as Presumptions Push Claim Costs into Billions

An executive order by California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week is the most aggressive yet among the directives issued by 13 states that require workers’ compensation insurers to pay at least some COVID-19 claims. Pressure is growing on workers’ compensation …

NCCI: COVID-19 Will Cost Billions Even With Modest Infection Rates

If only 10 percent of health care workers contract COVID-19 and all of their claims are deemed compensable, workers’ compensation loss costs for that sector could double or even triple in some states, according to an analysis by the National …

Regulators and Lawmakers Introducing Workers’ Comp to COVID-19

Sympathetic state lawmakers and regulators in states both red and blue promise to make COVID-19 a major cost driver for workers’ compensation insurers. The governors of Kentucky, Arkansas, North Dakota and Florida and state regulators in Illinois, Washington, Michigan and …

Long Trend of Declining Workplace Accident Rate Stalls in 2018

The workplace injury rate for private-sector workers has been dropping year after year for decades. But 2018 was not one of those years. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week that the incidence rate of nonfatal injuries and …