Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation has ordered a 5.1% workers compensation rate cut, disapproving the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc.'s proposed 1.9% overall rate level decrease.
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin M. McCarty ordered Boca Raton, Florida-based NCCI to submit a new rate filing that contains a 5.1% reduction in rates no later than Nov. 9 to meet statutory timeframes for a Jan. 1 effective date, according to a Tuesday statement by the Office of Insurance Regulation. In the statement, Commissioner McCarty said the use of a 4% profit and contingencies provision in the filing is “excessive” and “does not adequately reflect investment income or unearned premium and loss reserves.”
NCCI's original proposal included a 1.9% overall average rate cut, a reduction in the expense constant from $200 to $160, and changes to minimum premiums.
Commissioner McCarty disapproved the $160 expense constant, which represents the common administrative expenses of issuing and administering a workers comp policy, the statement says. He ordered the ratings and research organization to re-file with an expense constant of $200, a production expense provision no greater than 17.9%, and a general expense provision no greater than 5.2%.
“No rate change shall be implemented until such amendments are properly filed and final approval is issued by the office,” Commissioner McCarty said in the statement.
The National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. has filed for a workers compensation rate increase in Indiana and a decrease in Tennessee.