Oakland, CA – The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB) Governing Committee recently voted to authorize the WCIRB to submit a January 1, 2020 Advisory Pure Premium Rate Filing to the California Insurance Commissioner.
The filing will propose advisory pure premium rates that will be on average approximately 5.7% below the average approved January 1, 2019 advisory pure premium rates. If adopted, this would be the ninth consecutive pure premium rate decrease since 2015 totaling approximately 44 percent.
In his presentation to the Governing Committee, WCIRB Executive Vice President and Chief Actuary Dave Bellusci noted that the indicated January 1, 2020 average advisory pure premium rate change reflects continued downward loss development, acceleration in claim settlements, sharply declining pharmaceutical costs and continued decline in the number of liens being filed. Despite these favorable trends, Mr. Bellusci also cautioned that loss adjustment expenses remain high and that medical and indemnity average claim severities are beginning to rise at levels closer to their historical norms.
The WCIRB expects to submit its January 1, 2020 Advisory Pure Premium Rate Filing to the California Department of Insurance (CDI) around the third week of August 2019.
The CDI will schedule a public hearing to consider the filing, and once the Notice of Proposed Action and Notice of Public Hearing are issued, the WCIRB will post a copy in the Filings and Plans section of the WCIRB website.
View the Governing Committee Presentation – August 7, 2019 (PDF)
Source: CA WCIRB