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Worker’s Comp Rates To Increase 14.5 Percent
October 5, 2016
Workers’ compensation insurance rates will jump 14.5 percent starting December 1, after a filing Tuesday that carried out a decision by state regulators.
The National Council on Compensation Insurance, which submits rate requests for workers’ compensation insurers, made the filing. The organization, commonly known as NCCI, initially requested a 19.6 rate hike, but the state Office of Insurance Regulation last week trimmed the increase to 14.5 percent.
NCCI was required to filed revised numbers that matched the regulators’ decision.
The rates are going up largely because of a Florida Supreme Court ruling in April that said the state’s strict limits on attorneys’ fees in workers’ compensation cases were unconstitutional. The increase is expected to prompt a debate during the 2017 legislative session about changes in the workers’ compensation system, with business groups arguing that higher rates will hurt employers.
by The News Service of Florida
Comments
5 Responses to “Worker’s Comp Rates To Increase 14.5 Percent”
Actually, the story states that the State Insurance Regulators REDUCED the increased proposal from the requested 19.6% to 14.5%. It was the NCCI that proposed the rate hike because the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the State’s “STRICT LIMITS on lawyers fees” was unconstitutional. So it was the lawyers on the State Supreme Court that was looking out for their fellow lawyers.
Lewis T. – When Jeb revamped Work Comp in 2003, one of the things they did was they stopped paying Lawyer for their paperwork, so that meant the more complicated a claim was and the more paperwork there was, the less incentive an attorney would have to take on a complicated case.
It drove attorney’s to becoming more interested in settling claims/cases without putting in the effort to get the injured worker the care they needed to make them well and then dump the injured worker into SSI while they wait years to get approved for SSDI, if they can make it that long.
So the lawyer or a lawyer would get paid to settle a claim and then again to get the client on Social Security.
Lawyer’s need to get paid for their paperwork, but more than that, Work Comp needs to treat injured workers with life-altering injuries like the VA should be taking care of Veterans. If you need health care then you should get it.
Something else on Jeb, in 2003 he said that around 2008 the 2003 changes should be evaluated to see if they need tweaked or adjusted. That 2008 evaluation never happened because Jeb didn’t make it mandatory as part of the 2003 changes.
Maybe if we redesigned Workers Compensation insurance to be about taking care of the injured worker instead of giving Insurance Companies ways to deny or delay health care for the injured worker that require him/her to hire an attorney, to get health care they need, the rates would be less for businesses.
Just like the article doesn’t mention injured workers, the focus of Work Comp Insurance is also not to take care of injured workers with life altering injuries.
Sure, they take care of 80% of injured workers with burns, cuts or other minor injuries that will heal in a few weeks, but it’s the worker who needs the most care who gets screwed the most.
It is inhumane.
There is a reason Florida doesn’t track the suicide rates of injured workers under Work Comp. The injured worker is not the focus.
Another way to drive the small business man or woman out of business.
So the increase is not for workers, thus workman’c comp. (Can you still use man?)
The increase is for the LAWYERS. Wonder how many state regulators are or were lawyers? hmmmmmm