Colorado’s Workers’ Comp Loss Costs Could Decrease

Workers’ compensation costs for some Colorado employers are reportedly likely to decrease next year.

Colorado Insurance Commissioner Doug Dean announced recently that the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) has filed for an average decrease of 4.5% in workers’ comp insurance loss costs for Colorado, to be effective on Jan. 1, 2005.

After consideration of the change to the average experience modification factor, the total impact to premium as a result of this filing is a decrease of 3.4%. The NCCI, a rating and advisory organization, collects annual data on workers’ comp claims for the insurance industry and is responsible for the development of the loss costs for approximately 600 different class codes.

The Division’s consulting actuary will now review this filing and make a recommendation for approval or modification. If this filing is approved, many employers, but not all, should see a decrease in their workers’ comp premiums. The proposed rate changes for individual class codes range from a 34% decrease to a 25% increase.

A public hearing to discuss this proposal will be held on Sept. 21, 2004, beginning at 1:30 p.m., at the Colorado Division of Insurance, 1560 Broadway, Suite 850. Interested parties may comment on the proposal before the filing is approved, denied or modified.

This is the fourth year in a row that workers’ comp loss costs have declined. Dean warned, “However, it should be noted that loss costs are a significant, but not the only factor, used in establishing each employer’s actual premium. Rate filings made by individual insurers may cause the premium charged to an employer to increase or decrease by an amount that differs from the final, approved loss cost change.”