WORKERS’ COMP WRITERS SEEK 16% HIKE:

The New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board has submitted a filing for an average 16.1 percent rate increase effective Oct. 1, 2005. This filing came at the same time that the board withdrew its bid for a 9.5 percent increase.

NYCIRB originally sought last year a 29.3 percent increase in workers’ compensation rates, which was rejected by the New York State Insurance Department in July 2004. The insurers’ rating bureau subsequently reduced its request to 9.5 percent but the department never approved that either. A public hearing has not yet been scheduled for the latest 16.1 percent proposal.