Workers’ Comp Insurance Rates To Drop 10 Percent

Source: State House News Service
Author: Michael P. Norton

Attorney General Andrea Campbell announced the settlement with the Workers’ Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau and the State Rating Bureau, saying it will enable businesses to save about $130 million on workers’ comp insurance starting July 1.

“By lowering workers’ compensation insurance rates, we can help better protect workers and ensure that small businesses can offer higher wages, better benefits and lower prices,” Campbell said in a statement.

The attorney general’s office is a participant in the trial-like rate cases that are heard by the Division of Insurance and lead to rate resets. Campbell’s office said this year’s case started earlier than is required by statute because the AG “secured an order requiring that rates be reviewed sooner than the usual two-year cycle.”

Massachusetts insurers wanted to cut the average statewide workers’ compensation insurance rates by 4 percent starting in July, according to the Workers’ Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau’s December filing with state insurance regulators. Campbell’s office said the AG “identified shortcomings in the industry’s projections and argued for a larger decrease.”