Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features the release of a new report from CWCI that found California’s public self-insured workforce increased less than 1% in the 12 months ending June 30, but the total number of public self-insured work injuries and illness claims reported to the state jumped 35%.
Key findings from CWCI’s analysis of data from the state’s Office of Self-Insurance Plans (OSIP) included that the medical-only claim count rose 29.9% while the number of indemnity claims soared by 38.1%. CWCI noted that many among the huge surge in claims were likely COVID-19 related according to both its own data and the state’s survey of occupational injuries and illnesses. With such steep increases in claim volume, total workers’ comp paid losses for cities, counties and other public agencies in California increased by 31.5% to a record $585 million in FY 2021/22, while total incurred losses (paid plus reserves) rose 19.3% to nearly $1.68 billion.