The Current State of Florida Workers’ Compensation
The National Council on Compensation has filed for a Florida statewide average 3.3% rate decrease. If approved, the new rates would take effect on Jan 1, 2015 and this would be the first rate decrease in 2 years, as well as represent a cumulative 57.5% rate drop since the Florida Workers’ Compensation law was rewritten in 2003.
With fewer claims and lower loss amounts comes a favorable impact on the workers’ compensation market and with the change, Florida businesses will see a $26 million relief in workers’ compensation. A 3.3% average rate request would lead to decreases for all five major industry groups in Florida including manufacturing classes, contracting classes, office and clerical classes, goods and services classes, and miscellaneous classes.
One area of contention about the filing concerns the proposed insurers’ profit and contingency increase. Florida is an administratively priced state, which means that the filing includes provisions for all insurer profits and expenses, and many believe that there is no reason to increase the profit and contingency factor as workers’ compensation insurers are no longer subject to Florida’s excess profit law (which required insurers to refund money to policyholders if underwriting gains were greater by more than 5% over three preceding calendar years than anticipated profit).
This NCCI decrease would be the first since 2010 and may be a result of growing premiums and relatively stable loss exposure and rates and could have a big impact on employers in the state of Florida. To learn more about Workers’ Compensation and how it affects you, click here.