Ohio BWC Distributing Final $81.7 Million in ‘Billion Back’ Rebates
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) announced that $81.7 million is headed to more than 2,000 Ohio employers, completing the distribution of $1 billion BWC began delivering to employers over the summer as part of its Billion Back plan.
Businesses receiving this latest money are those private employers that participate in group-retrospective rating. Under the program, BWC-certified sponsors create groups of employers that focus on practicing workplace safety and claims management to achieve lower premiums than they could as individuals. Employers continue to pay individual premiums, and then receive retrospective premium adjustments based on the combined performance of the group
The BWC noted that this program differs from the group-experience rating program. Eligible employers participating in group-experience rating received their rebates earlier this summer.
The most recent rebates are currently scheduled to be mailed on Oct. 4. Those with outstanding BWC balances will have their rebates first applied to satisfying those balances.
The $1 billion rebate is part of a three-part Billion Back plan that also includes changes to BWC’s successful Safety Grant Program, including tripling the amount of money available from $5 million to $15 million to support expanded statewide efforts to promote workplace safety and encourage further investment in protecting Ohio’s workers.
BWC will also now match every employer dollar with three dollars and has established a policy to allow businesses to get additional awards over their lifetime.
The final piece of the Billion Back plan includes the modernization of BWC’s premium collection model toward a prospective-payment system. The prospective plan, which is likely to begin in early 2015, will result in a $900 million credit to employers to avoid double billing. The switch will likely also result in rate reductions of two percent for private employers and four percent for public employers.
Source: Ohio BWC