CA: Workers' comp on the mend

SFGate.com ^ | 8/20/04 | Sunne Wright McPeak

[NormsRevenge]

From 2000 to 2003, California workers' compensation insurance premiums posted double-digit percentage increases -- helping to flat-line the state economy. Now, four months after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 899 to reform workers' compensation, premiums are dropping by double digits -- facilitating the California recovery.

Bipartisan cooperation between the governor and the Legislature produced workers' compensation reform that is delivering results. (snip) Even though some of the most important reforms do not take effect until January, the early results show a system already on the mend, and it is worth looking at how far we have come.

The State Compensation Insurance Fund was created in 1914 as an insurer of last resort for firms that could not find coverage in the private marketplace. Recently, this last resort became the only option for many employers: The SCIF devolved into the largest workers' compensation provider in the country, commanding 53 percent of the California market, according to the state Department of Insurance. As the cost of writing workers' compensation insurance grew, so did the SCIF. Private insurers left the market, rates skyrocketed and the state fund's reserves dwindled so much that regulators questioned its financial viability.

[calcowgirl]

There you go again... only posting negative articles ;-)