Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner approves loss-cost reduction for workers’ comp insurance

Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman announced Thursday the approval of a loss-cost filing, including a 3.02 percent reduction in loss costs – a determinant in workers’ compensation insurance rates paid by businesses.

The reduction should lower workers’ compensation premiums for many Pennsylvania businesses, Altman’s office said.

The loss-cost revision was filed by the Pennsylvania Compensation Rating Bureau (PCRB) on behalf of the companies that write workers’ compensation insurance policies in that state. Workers’ compensation insurance pay for medical care, lost wages and rehabilitation for injured workers, and lost wages and death benefits for the dependents of those killed on the job.

“This decrease continues several years of loss-cost reductions, further helping businesses in our state be more competitive, and frees up money to spend on other priorities, which is vital as Pennsylvania recovers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Altman said. “Under Gov. Wolf’s leadership, the insurance department is working to maintain a vibrant workers’ compensation insurance market, ensuring employers are able to find attractive, cost-efficient workers’ compensation coverage.”

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department has taken steps throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that workers’ compensation insurance rates reflect the impact of the health emergency. Working with the PCRB, the department approved rules pertaining to permanent telework assignments to non-permanent telework assignments and provided that payroll for workers who were not working could be exempt from a companies’ workers’ compensation insurance premium.

“The Insurance Department was proactive in our response to how COVID-19 changed the way Pennsylvania works, and how workers’ compensation insurance was affected by this new way of doing business,” Altman said.