CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia employers are set to see their workers’ compensation premiums drop by about $32 million in the coming year, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin announced Thursday.
It will be employers’ tenth consecutive reduction in workers’ comp rates when it takes effect later this year.
Tomblin said the National Council on Compensation Insurance earlier this week filed a proposed reduction in workers’ compensation loss cost rates — a key ingredient used to determine workers’ compensation insurance premiums — with the Offices of the West Virginia Insurance Commissioner.
Loss cost rates are the portion of the workers’ compensation premium that reflect the pure cost of workers compensation claims, including the cost of medical care, lost wages, and prescriptions. They do not include an insurance company’s operating expenses, taxes and profit margins, which also affect rates.
The NCCI is West Virginia’s rating and statistical agent that calculates and files the loss cost rates based on an actuarial analysis. The organization has proposed a 9.1 percent decrease in loss cost rates with the West Virginia Insurance Commissioner.
If approved by the Insurance Commissioner’s office, the rate reduction, which would take effect Nov. 1, would result in about $32 million worth of savings and premium reductions for employers over the next year…
