Indiana, Kansas to See Lower Workers’ Comp Rates Next Year

Indiana and Kansas employers will see workers’ compensation insurance rates decrease in 2017, according to the insurance departments in both states.

The Kansas Insurance Department said the 2017 rate filing by the National Council on Compensations Insurance Inc. (NCCI) shows an average decrease of 8.4 percent in the voluntary base rate and a decrease of 7.8 percent for assigned risk workers’ comp rates.

In the Kansas voluntary market, there was a 7.2 percent drop in experience (the number of claims filed for the three most recent policy years), and a 2 percent drop in medical and indemnity trends. Increases in benefits, and loss adjustment expense made the total an 8.4 percent overall decrease, KID said.

Many of the approximately 65,000 Kansas businesses that purchase workers’ comp insurance will be affected by the lowered rates. It will be the second consecutive year for workers’ comp rate decreases in Kansas.

Medical claims represent 65 percent of workers’ comp benefit distribution in Kansas and 35 percent goes to pay indemnity claims, according to statistics from the NCCI.

In Indiana, Department of Insurance Commissioner Stephen W. Robertson has approved a 9.3 percent reduction in workers’ compensation insurance rates for next year.

The approved rate decrease will result in savings of approximately $82.7 million dollars for Indiana businesses, the insurance department said.

Robertson said Indiana has some of the lowest workers’ comp rates in the nation.

“With overall rates decreasing in 2017, Indiana intensifies its tradition of offering employers a welcoming and responsive business environment,” he said.

The workers’ comp filings in both states were approved for a Jan. 1, 2017, effective date.