Massachusetts announces $130M comp rate rollback

Massachusetts businesses are poised to save about $130 million in workers compensation insurance premiums beginning July 1 after the state announced it reached a settlement with the Workers’ Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau and the State Rating Bureau.

The settlement, announced Wednesday by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, resolves an administrative rate trial at the Division of Insurance and is expected to result in a 10.2% rollback of comp insurance rates for small businesses and other employers.

“By lowering workers compensation insurance rates, we can help better protect workers and ensure that small businesses can offer higher wages, better benefits and lower prices,” Ms. Campbell said in a statement.

Workers comp insurance is mandatory for all employers in Massachusetts. Rates are set at least every two years during administrative rate trials before the state insurance commissioner, and the attorney general’s office litigates the cases to ensure fair rates for policyholders, according to Ms. Campbell.

Ms. Campbell said her office stepped in this winter after data filed by the state’s insurance companies suggested a rate decrease of about 4%.

The attorney general said she identified shortcomings in the industry’s projections and argued for a larger decrease, which ultimately resulted in the average 10.2% rollback announced this week.

Ms. Campbell said her office this winter succeeded in obtaining an order to review the projected rate decreases sooner than the typical two-year cycle.

The attorney general’s office said during the past five years it has saved employers hundreds of millions of dollars by intervening in comp insurance administrative rate cases.