California comp rating bureau recommends 6.7% rate hike

The Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California is recommending that the California Department of Insurance adopt a 6.7% increase in the state's pure premium workers compensation rate.

As expected, San Francisco-based WCIRB submitted a pure premium rate filing to the California Department of Insurance this week proposing pure premium rates that average $2.86 per $100 of payroll as of Jan. 1, 2015, the bureau said in a statement.

The proposed rate increase is 6.7% higher than the average advisory pure premium rate of $2.68 as of Jan. 1, 2014, and about 11.3% higher than the industry average filed pure premium rate of $2.57 as of July 1, the WCIRB said Tuesday in a statement.

In a letter submitted with the filing, WCIRB President and CEO Bill Mudge identified a number of factors that contributed to the proposed rate increase, including “continued adverse medical loss development,” “continued high levels of indemnity claim frequency” and “lower than forecast wage growth,” according to the statement.

WCIRB said the California Department of Insurance will now schedule a public hearing to consider the filing.

Advisory pure premium rates, which are based on loss and payroll data from insurance companies, reflect the amount of losses an insurer can expect to pay in benefits due to workplace injuries and the cost of adjusting and settling workers comp claims, according to the WCIRB.