TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –Wednesday, January 05, 2011– The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) released to the Florida Legislature its 2010 Workers’ Compensation Annual Report on the state of the workers’ compensation insurance market in Florida. The report analyzed the availability and affordability of coverage for workers’ compensation insurance in Florida with data for the calendar year 2009 with the benefit of information available from 2010 and concluded that Florida’s market is competitive.
“The 2010 report clearly demonstrates a healthy marketplace in Florida with multiple competitors, numerous options for purchasing insurance, and competitive premiums relative to other states,” said Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty. “Maintaining competition and consumer choice is especially important for Florida businesses given the current economic environment.”
The report shows the Florida market features 260 entities writing workers’ compensation insurance — 255 private insurers, four self-insurance funds, and the Florida Workers’ Compensation Joint Underwriting Association (FWCJUA). The residual market, the FWCJUA, had 746 policies as of October 2010 with corresponding premiums of $5.5 million. This is a fraction of Florida’s overall workers’ compensation premium, which reported a total of $1.71 billion in written premium in the private market in 2009, ranking Florida seventh nationally.
On November 2, 2010, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty issued a final order approving the National Council on Compensation Insurance’s amended rate filing for workers’ compensation insurance rates to become effective Jan. 1. The 7.8 percent rate increase follows a decrease earlier in 2009 and still results in rate decreases accumulating to 61.9 percent since the 2003 reforms.
CONTACT:
Jack McDermott
850-413-2515
Brittany Benner
850-413-2515