How to cut workers compensation insurance cost

All signs point to continuing work comp insurance price increases.

Insurers' latest quarterly statements tend to say they are able to obtain price increases across many states for workers comp coverage while recent surveys report the same thing.

And as I write in a new Business Insurance story, California workers comp insurers are filing for rate increases despite recent reforms and official suggestions that rates should remain unchanged.

So for policyholders who buy first dollar coverage now may be an excellent time to consider cutting their work comp insurance costs by turning to a large deductible.

There are more advisers today than there were 10 years ago willing to help smaller employers consider this route. Interest rates, meanwhile, are favorable for companies that have the financial strength to consider taking on more risk, but will need to post collateral to do so.

Taking on a large deductible or self insuring are not for all employers. But you can listen to a chief financial officer tell how his company made the migration from first dollar coverage to a large deductible 12 years ago.

Since then Ganahl Lumber has cut its workers comp insurance costs in half each year over what it would otherwise pay for insurance.

The webinar will be available Oct. 25 as part of Business Insurance's Third Annual Workers Compensation Virtual Conference. It's free and it's available at your desk by registering here.

The conference is loaded with advice on what employers need to consider before moving from first-dollar coverage to taking on their own risks.