Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features some legislative news, as it was recently announced that the Oklahoma House had passed Senate Bill 1062, which is set to change the current court-based workers’ compensation system to an administrative system and give the option of developing an alternative benefit plan (opt-out) to qualified employers.
Insurance Commissioner John Doak applauded the development, noting that Oklahoma has one of the highest average costs of Workers Compensation benefits in the nation at a rate of $830 per employee. The Oklahoma State Chamber also issued a statement, calling it “the most important piece of reform legislation to our state’s workers’ compensation system in more than two decades.”