The nurseryman’s solution

Via Kevin Drum, a consultant’s tale of workers comp risk management. I pass along it reluctantly, for the same reason the storyteller is remorseful: Back in the late 90s, my team was hired by a large nursery to help them get their workers compensation claims under control. For those that have never worked in the [...]

Claim of the Week: Comp fraud, Vol. Whatever

Ohio Man Caught on Camera Roofing While on Workers’ Comp. Common enough news story, except the video also showed him . . . . . . leaving the worksite to attend a hearing on his workers’ comp case, and later returning to finish the job.  

Comp frequency rises 3% – first increase since ’97

Via Business Insurance, NCCI this week announced that workers comp claim frequency rose 3% last year, the first increase since 1997 and the biggest increase in more than two decades. The previous 19 years, frequency had fallen 56%. Here’s a chart from the full report (pdf): Why the increase: With the Great Recession, frequency fell [...]

MarketScout: Comp leading the rate revival

Via Business Insurance: In June, rates fell 3% overall, a little less than the 4% decrease posted a month earlier. But workers comp rates rose 1%. “It looks like workers compensation will be the coverage leading us out of the soft market,” MarketScout CEO Richard Kerr said in a statement accompanying the report.  

In comp, the good gets better; the bad gets worse

Guy Carpenter had an interesting idea buried in its recent post, Workers Compensation Reserve Risk Development: The Cat That May Be Lurking in Your Balance Sheet. GC notes that companies have a hard time getting their comp reserves right. If they are inadequate, said inadequacy may hurt earnings as much as a catastrophe would. Thus, [...]

Workers comp frequency flattening

Business Insurance reports that claim frequency in workers comp is flattening out and may begin rising soon: The widespread shift is significant because declining frequency of workers comp claims—or lost-time claims filed per payroll dollars—has helped counter rising costs driven by the severity of claims, said Eric Brosius, senior vp and corporate actuary for Boston-based [...]

WC experience rating passes test

Wonky, but this is a blog for actuaries: In 2009, California approved new ballast weights (B and W) for workers compensation to improve the rating plan. So far it seems to be working. I’d describe the study more, but Insurance Journal, channeling the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Board, does just fine: [A WCIRB analysis] shows [...]

NCCI: WC frequency keeps dropping

The frequency of claims per 100,000 workers fell 4.0% in 2009 and likely kept falling this year, though claim size keeps growing. Business Insurance passes along the highlights of NCCI’s analysis (pdf). Since 1991, frequency is down nearly 55%. Check this table of frequency change by year: NCCI has plenty of reasons, which I crib [...]

NCCI wins 7.8% increase in FL WC

Business Insurance reports. NCCI had sought 8.3%. Of course, individual insurers can deviate from the NCCI benchmark.

Catching up

Stuff I hadn’t gotten to: Nice summary of IFRS vs. FASB vs. Solvency II. In sports, N.Y. Giants sued by a fan injured at a Jets game. French mutuals express dismay over S-II. Europe: the new Bermuda, says S&P. Medical payments exceed indemnification payments in workers comp for the first time. Fewest deaths on America’s [...]