Florida's Workers comp premiums to decrease again

Palm Beach Business.com

BOCA RATON — Businesses will be paying a little less for workers compensation insurance come July 1.

Boca Raton-based National Council on Compensation Insurance has asked the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation to approve a 4.2 percent decrease in rates based on a decreased assessment for a special fund designed to encourage businesses to hire workers with pre-existing conditions.

The reduction is the eighth cut in workers' comp rates since 2003, when the Legislature overhauled the state’s workers comp system. The cumulative effect has been a 64.7 percent decline in the average premiums businesses pay.

"This reduction in rate will provide rate relief for Florida's business owners," said Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty. "The rate reduction follows a consistent trend of declining workers' compensation rates in Florida that began following the legislative reforms in 2003."

NCCI is the ratemaking organization that files workers' compensation rates for all carriers in Florida.