Calif. workers compensation rates up 4% in last half of 2011

SAN FRANCISCO—California insurers filed workers compensation manual rates that rose 4% on average during the last six months of 2011, according to information released Tuesday by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California.

The manual rates rose from $3.27 to $3.39 per hundred dollars of payroll on average during the period, according to the data released in advance of a WCIRB Actuarial Committee meeting scheduled for April 2 in San Francisco.

The San Francisco-based rating organization also reported that:

• The average filed pure premium rate rose 2% during the six-month period.

• Allocated loss adjustment expenses continue to rise, with the estimated ultimate accident-year expense per indemnity claim rising to $11,400, or almost double the 2005 amount.

• The number of late reported indemnity claims continues to increase.

• The number of cumulative-injury claims has been increasing. The WCIRB preliminarily estimates that 10% of accident-year 2010 indemnity claims will involve cumulative injury, up from 6.6% in 2006.