N.Y. to slash workers’ comp rates 20.5%

Rates for workers’ compensation in New York will decline by more than 20.5 percent — the biggest cut in more than 20 years — saving employers about $1 billion, according to state officials.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, joined by Assembly and Senate leaders, credited passage of reforms earlier this year for the drop.

State Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo ordered the rate cut beginning July 15. “We believe that the rate reduction is fair, that the private carriers will remain profitable, and that the market will continue to be competitive,” he said.

Dinallo said his department is implementing the reforms, including an accelerated system for resolving disputed cases, and will continue to make improvements.

In March, when Spitzer and legislative leaders announced the reforms that mandated efficiencies in claims handling, new medical fee schedules, and tougher anti-fraud provisions while raising some benefits, they projected a rate decline of 10 to 15 percent.

“We promised that we would reduce the cost of workers’ compensation as part of our effort to make New York more business friendly,” said Spitzer.

Legislative and business leaders applauded the news.

“These rates make real the reforms that the Governor and the Legislature negotiated together,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said.

“This process was well begun earlier this year with the reform deal, and this news and continuing efforts to achieve administrative reforms show that we are on a good track,” added President and CEO of the Business Council Kenneth Adams.