Worker's Comp rates likely to rise

From the Sacramento Bee: Get ready for another round of workers' compensation insurance premium increases next January. An influential group controlled by the insurance industry Wednesday recommended a 22.8 percent rate increase. The Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California, in arguing for the higher rates, said rising medical costs are largely the reason. The findings are advisory but generally set the pattern for the industry. Insurers raised rates nearly 10 percent on average in July after the bureau called for a 23.7 percent increase. Rates generally are set twice a year, in January and July. Workers' comp is a hot-button issue for many employers and is often blamed for the state's reputation as an expensive place to do business. Backlash against sky-high premiums prompted the Legislature to overhaul the system twice, in 2003 and 2004, and rates are about 60 percent lower than in 2003. But as rates have begun to creep back up, economic development officials from states such as Nevada have been pointing to workers' comp costs in their efforts to lure companies from California.