N.H. Gov. Hassan to Appoint Workers’ Comp Task Force
Gov. Hassan has been supporting a legislative proposal to create a commission to examine rising workers’ comp medical costs but this year’s state legislature has failed to pass the measure.
Gov. Hassan said the state cannot wait until the next legislative session to begin working on solutions.
“As workers’ compensation medical payments soar higher for Granite State businesses, New Hampshire has become one of the most expensive states in the nation for workers’ compensation,” Gov. Hassan said.
Employers and workers have done their part to increase workplace safety, but high workers’ comp costs remain a burden on the state’s businesses, the governor added.
“I have supported legislation that would have created a commission to examine these issues and recommend solutions. But that legislation recently died, and I do not believe that we can wait until the next legislative session to begin working on solutions,” Gov. Hassan said.
“That is why I will be creating a task force of workers, businesses, insurers and members of the health care community to make recommendations to reform the workers’ compensation system in order to reduce costs for our workers and businesses and to support their efforts to keep our economy moving forward.”
The New Hampshire Insurance Department said the Granite State is one of six states in the country that do not have legal guidelines in place to cap the amount that health care providers can charge workers’ comp insurers for services.
In addition, the insurance department said, the current state law mandates that workers’ comp insurance “shall pay the full amount of the health care provider’s bill.”
The department said that in the world of workers’ comp, the fees charged by the health care community in New Hampshire are significantly more expensive on average compared to other states.
“Medical costs in New Hampshire have grown to almost 75 percent of total workers’ compensation dollars in New Hampshire, compared to about 60 percent countrywide,” said Deb Stone, director of market regulation at the insurance department. “It’s my belief, based on actuarial analysis, that the lack of limitation on what can be charged by medical providers and facilities is a major contributor to this trend,” Stone said.
New Hampshire went from being listed as the 14th most expensive state for workers’ comp coverage in the country in 2008 to the 9th most expensive in 2012, according to the Oregon Workers Compensation Rate Ranking Study.
On average, workers’ comp surgical procedures in New Hampshire are 83 percent more expensive than those in the neighboring region including Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and more than twice as expensive compared to 35 states across the country, according to data from the National Council on Compensation Insurance. In total, the data included four categories of physician services: surgical, radiology, physical and occupational therapies, and doctors’ visits.
The New Hampshire Insurance Department said it found that medical costs in New Hampshire exceeded those in surrounding states and the nation by a substantial margin in all four categories.