Kansas Insurance Regulator Rebuffs Proposed Workers’ Comp Rate Increase

Kansas’ top insurance regulator has refused a proposed workers’ compensation rate increase and actually got the rate to drop slightly, the state insurance department announced.

Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger rebuffed a recommendation for a workers’ comp rate increase from the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. (NCCI). She said the rates — a proposed 1.7 percent overall increase for the voluntary base rate, and a 5.3 percent overall increase for assigned risk workers comp rates — were too high.

The Commissioner based her refusal on recent legislative changes in the state Workers’ Compensation Act.

NCCI subsequently amended its filing, lowering the existing voluntary base rate by a half-percentage point and only increasing the proposed assigned risk rate by 3 percent.

Voluntary workers’ compensation base rates are used by all insurance companies writing workers’ compensation in the competitive market. Assigned risk rates are used for insured businesses in the Kansas Assigned Risk Plan, a state organization for those businesses who are unable to obtain coverage in the competitive market.

The filing applies to all insurance carriers writing workers’ compensation policies for businesses in the state. The new filings were approved by the Kansas Insurance Department on Dec. 2, with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2012.

NCCI prepares workers’ compensation rate recommendations and manages the nation’s largest database of workers comp information.

Source: Kansas Insurance Department