Kentucky: Filing approved, sending loss costs down for fifth year

Workers' compensation rates will decrease for most employers in Kentucky in October.

Sharon P. Clark, commissioner of the Department of Insurance, recently announced that the agency approved the National Council on Compensation Insurance's filing that requested an average loss cost reduction of 10.3 percent. The annual filing marked the fifth consecutive overall decrease in loss costs.

Data collected from insurance carriers in the state is used to develop loss costs, which are the average compensation for lost wages, based on the level of disability, plus medical benefit payments. Use of the information is voluntary, but Clark said most workers' comp carriers use the NCCI loss cost values as a base to which the insurer's own loss adjustment and overhead expenses are added to arrive at the rates charged.

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The loss cost figures show an average reduction of 10.3 percent for the 584 industrial classes used in Kentucky. These classes include manufacturing, office and clerical, contracting, and goods and services. For coal classes, underground mining costs increased 7.1 percent while surface mining remained unchanged.

"Kentucky employers and workers continue to receive very good news related to workers' comp," Clark said. "Claim frequency is declining, and while medical costs continue to rise, the increases are more moderate. In these difficult economic times, it's great to see costs going down for many of our employers."

Read more at the WorkersComp Forum homepage.

September 20, 2010

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