Last year, NCCI thought the sky was falling when it asked for a 25% increase. Regulators balked and agreed to a 14.5%. It appears our State regulators were correct as this latest move negates more than half of the increase.
The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) has delivered its annual workers’ compensation rate filing to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). NCCI is proposing a statewide average premium decrease of -9.6% for new and renewal business effective January 1, 2018. NCCI is also proposing a reduction in the Expense Constant (the fixed expense cost collected on every workers’ compensation policy) from $200 to $160.
If approved by OIR, this will be the first decrease since rates were increased by +14.5% in December 2016 due primarily to the Florida Supreme Court decision in the Castellanos case, which invalidated the cap on fees paid to attorneys representing injured workers. Even though rates increased for calendar year 2017 due to Castellanos, NCCI says that improving claim frequency and severity in Florida indicate that a rate decrease is necessary at this time.
Published by FUBA Worker’s Comp.
More to follow as we get a chance to review NCCI’s reasoning.
