The National Academy of Social Insurance has issued its16th annual report on national workers’ compensation benefits, coverage, and costs. This report presents new data on workers’ compensation programs for 2011 and updates estimates for 2007 – 2010 with newly available data. The revised estimates in this report replace estimates in the Academy’s prior reports.

In 2011 workers’ compensation programs managed by the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government paid $60.2 billion in benefits, an increase of 3.5 percent from the $58.2 billion in benefits paid in 2010. In 2011 medical payments to providers increased by 4.5 percent, to $29.9 billion, and cash benefits to injured workers increased by 2.6 percent, to $30.3 billion. Costs to employers rose by 7.1 percent in 2011, to $77.1 billion. In 2011 workers’ compensation covered an estimated 125.8 million workers, an increase of 1.1 percent from the previous year. Aggregate wages of covered workers increased by 3.9 percent.

All states showed increases in both numbers of covered workers and dollars of covered wages in 2011.

In 2011, the total amount of benefits paid to injured workers increased in 29 jurisdictions and decreased in 22. The largest percentage increases in benefits occurred in Virginia (12.5%), Iowa (12.2%) and New York (10.7%). California had the sixth highest percentage increase in the nation at 8.4% . The largest percentage decreases in benefits occurred in Nevada (-11.3%), Oregon (-10.1%) and New Hampshire (-9.6%). Between 2010 and 2011,

Employers’ costs of workers’ compensation per $100 of covered payroll increased in 35 jurisdictions, and declined in sixteen. The largest increases were in Wisconsin (14 cents), Wyoming (14 cents), Iowa and Washington (13 cents). California had the 9th highest increase in the nation for 2011 at 8 cents increase per $100 of covered payroll.. Some of the largest decreases were in West Virginia, Montana, and Ohio.