Workers’ Compensation Rates Likely To Keep Dropping In 2018

Indiana’s recommended rates for workers compensation insurance will continue a multi-year decline in 2018. Officials say the 13 percent drop in their benchmark rate for insurers is due to fewer workers’ comp claims and on-the-job injuries.

Indiana companies have to carry workers’ comp insurance to cover medical bills and lost wages for employees who get hurt on the job. But different jobs have different risks – you’re more likely to get hurt at a factory than behind a desk.

Insurers set their own premiums for those different jobs. The nonprofit Indiana Compensation Ratings Bureau issues guidance each year on what employers should need to spend on workers’ comp, based on trends and projections.

The state says next year’s recommended 13 percent drop should save businesses more than $100 million dollars. It follows a 9 percent drop in the rate this year. Bureau president Ron Cooper says altogether, it’s the biggest decline he’s seen since he took the job in 1995. And he says there’s a reason for it:  “There are fewer workers being injured on the job than in years past.”

Cooper says workplace safety advances and automation both play into that.

But the rate won’t keep dropping forever. Even if injury claims keep declining, he says the recommended rates will always rise and fall with medical costs, and legislative changes, like a recent increase in wage payouts for injured workers.