N.Y. Compensation Insurance Rating Board Seeks 16.9% Hike in WC Loss Costs

The New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board (NYCIRB) said it submitted to the state’s Department of Financial Services last week a loss-cost filing for an overall average loss cost change of +16.9 percent. A hearing is likely to be scheduled for sometime in late June.

“We are waiting for the Department of Financial Services to issue a hearing notice and at that point we will post the filing online,” said Ziv Kimmel, vice president and chief actuary at the NYCIRB. The Department of Financial Services is required to hold a public hearing when a request is made for a workers’ comp loss costs hike of at least 7 percent.

Kimmel said that while more detailed information on the filing won’t be available until a hearing is scheduled, he commented that 4.5 percent of the requested increase is attributable to the expected closing of the reopened case fund.

In New York, cases that reopen three years after an insurer made what it thought was final payment (and seven years after the original accident) can be turned over to a reopened case fund. Employers pay an assessment that covers these claims. But the state plans to close the fund on Jan. 1, 2014, as part of the state’s workers’ comp reform effort.

Last year, the Department of Financial Service turned down NYCIRB’s request for an 11.5 percent hike in workers’ comp loss costs after holding a hearing on June 25, 2012. In 2011, the department had approved a 9.1 percent increase in workers’ comp loss costs.

Topics New York Profit Loss Workers' Compensation Talent