By Sheena Harrison, Crain News Service
CHICAGO (Nov. 17, 2014) — Workers' compensation premiums are projected to grow 7 percent this year over 2013 to $39.3 billion.
Workers comp insurers are seeing the first signs of profitability in eight years, according to a Nov. 10 report from the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. (NCCI)
This year's growth projections exceed a 4.5-percent increase in comp premiums from 2012 to 2013, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based workers' comp ratemaking agency said in its annual financial results update.
Private workers' comp insurers are expected to have an aggregate combined ratio of 96 percent in 2014, which would be the first time that the industry has been profitable since 2006, the NCCI said. The combined ratio for private workers' comp insurers was 101 percent last year, having fallen steadily since reaching 115 percent in 2010 and 2011.
“The expected improvement in the combined ratio is derived from a reduction in losses as well as the previously discussed projected increase in premium,” the NCCI said.
The NCCI noted that investment gains and operating gains also have increased for private workers' comp insurers.
This report appeared on the website of Crain”s Business Insurance magazine, a Chicago-based sister publication of Tire Business.