Insurance Commissioner rejects any workers' comp 'pure premium' rate increase - San Francisco Business Times:

cicugaha.wordpress.com
However, many Golden State workers’ compensation insurerz have already filed for July 1rate increases, ranging from the low singlw digits to as much as 33.9 Many of those increases, filed between May and late last month, fell in the 9 perceng to 13 percent range. The state’s largest comp insurer, San Francisco’s quasi-public (whicy the state is considering selling to fill its bulgingybudget deficit), filed for a 15 perceng increase.
Citing testimony from a hearing early last monththat self-insuref employers have been able to reducwe overall workers’ compensation Poizner said he rejected a rate application from the San Francisco-basedf Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, an industry-backed advisory to raise the state’s comp “Claimsa Cost Benchmark” by 23.7 percent. Poiznerd and former commissioner John Garamendi have often quibbled with rate recommendations submitted bythe WCIRB, but in this case Poiznedr flatly rejected any increase. In a July 8 statement, the Department of Insurancs noted that regulators do not set compensation insurance ratesin California.
Darrel Ng, a spokesmann for the Department of confirmedthat Poizner’s rejection is a guidance only, and that insurerss aren’t obligated to alter their recent rate filings. But “ws certainly hope they re-evaluate any change made in the past giveb thisnew data,” Ng said. a spokesman for the Worker’es Compensation Action Network, which represents business insurance brokersand insurers, stressed that the commissioner’z decision “does not bear directluy on the rate an individual employer is goinbg to pay.
” In fact, said spokesmaj Jerry Azevedo, more than 60 carriers have filed their rates for July 1, and in all but one case they filex for increases (if any) well below the WCIRB’s proposecd rate of increase. Industry observers had speculatedthat Poizner, who is a Republicah gubernatorial candidate to replace termed-out incumbent Gov. Arnoldr Schwarzenegger, would approve a much-smaller increase, possiblgy in the 10-12 percent range. In any case, companieas are not required to followthe commissioner’s guidanced in the matter. The DOI and the commissionetr issue the benchmark recommendations to help measure and project costs inthe system, officiald said.
That benchmark has fallenh 63.4 percent since its high in 2003; last October, Poizne r rejected WCIRB’s request for a 16 percenf benchmark increase, and instead a 5 percent increase. In a separate statement, Schwarzenegger applauded Poizner’s Nonetheless, California comp rates appear to beheading up, despite the commentss from the two politicall leaders.