Workers Comp News Bits

There are a few interesting bits of news today from the wide world of Workers' Comp. First off, Arizona's governor has signed a bill that mandates the Arizona state fund morph into a private insurance company by 2013. This is part of a larger trend that's been happening in many states with Workers Comp funds. Changing over to an independent insurance company enables these insurers to branch out and offer coverage in other states (a la Accident Fund from Michigan) and it also removes the loss reserves from the possible reach of state legislatures desperate for easy funds.

Over in the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts, regulators there have just approved lower rates for Workers Comp insurance, starting in September. Insurers were disappointed, employers pleased, understandably.

Finally, Florida-based NCCI (National Council on Compensation Insurance) announced that John T. Leonard, President and CEO of MEMIC Group (a group of insurance companies based in the Northeast) has been elected the 2010 Board Chair of NCCI. NCCI is the organization that computes experience modifiers, creates and maintains the Workers Compensation classification system, and writes the manual rules for Workers Comp insurance for most states. Although a lot of folks act as though NCCI were some kind of regulatory agency or independent body, it is in fact a creation of insurance companies, and the majority of NCCI's board members are insurance company executives. So while NCCI is technically separate from the insurance industry, there is a great deal of shared DNA.