Citing lower medical loss and allocated loss adjustment expense development, continued acceleration in claim settlement, and recent indemnity claim frequency decreases, the insurer and public members of the WCIRB Governing Committee who were in attendance voted unanimously to authorize the WCIRB to submit a mid-year pure premium rate filing to the California Department of Insurance (CDI).

The filing will propose a July 1, 2017 average advisory pure premium rate of $2.02 per $100 of payroll which is 16.5% lower than the corresponding industry average filed pure premium rate of $2.42 as of January 1, 2017 and 7.8% less than the Insurance Commissioner’s approved average January 1, 2017 advisory pure premium rate of $2.19. The recent rate decline is therefore favorable to employers as seen on this list:

7/1/2017 Indicated Average Pure Premium Rate: $ 2.02
1/1/2017 Indicated Average Pure Premium Rate: $ 2.22
1/1/2017 Average Approved Pure Premium Rate: $2.19
1/1/2017 Industry Average Filed Pure Premium Rate: $2.42

The Governing Committee’s decision was based on the WCIRB Actuarial Committee’s analysis of insurer loss and loss adjustment experience as of December 31, 2016, which was reviewed at public meetings of the Actuarial Committee held on March 21, and April 3, 2017.

The Actuarial Committee noted that cumulative trauma claims continue to increase, particularly in the Los Angeles region. In addition, medical severities are beginning to increase after several years of more modest severity trends driven by Senate Bill No. 863.

Despite these upward pressures on system costs, the Governing Committee believed that lower frequency and favorable loss and allocated loss adjustment expense development, partially driven by increases in claim settlement rates, warranted a reduction in the industry average pure premium rate as of July 1, 2017.

The WCIRB anticipates submitting its filing to the CDI by April 14, 2017.

The filing and all related documents will be available in the Publication and Filings section of the WCIRB website and the WCIRB will issue a Wire Story once the filing has been submitted.

Documents related to the Governing Committee meeting, including the agenda and materials displayed or distributed at the meeting, are available on the Committee Documents page of the WCIRB website.