CEO of Colorado Workers’ Comp Insurer: Private Would Be Better

The head of Colorado’s state-created workers’ compensation insurance company says the organization could do a better job if it were privatized.

CEO Ken Ross told state lawmakers that Pinnacol Assurance has paid $347 million in dividends to policyholders since it was created and the company could do even better if it became a mutual insurance company.

The company has its roots in a state fund started in 1915 to take care of injured workers, but state lawmakers agreed to spin it off in 2002. It’s defined in law as a political subdivision of the state, but the company, not the state, has ownership of its funds.

State lawmakers this year tried to tap the company for money to balance the state budget, but postponed discussions until later this year.