Tallahassee, Fla. - The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FLOIR) has approved an overall rate reduction of 18.4%, effective Jan. 1, 2008, marking the fifth consecutive year of workers' compensation rate decreases. The newest rate reductions will give Florida businesses a cumulative decrease of 51.4% since legislative reforms were enacted in 2003.
FLOIR concurrently released its annual report on the state of the market for workers' compensation insurance to the Florida Legislature. The report analyzes the availability and affordability of coverage for workers' compensation insurance in Florida for the calendar year 2006, and concludes that Florida is the largest market dominated by private market insurers (as compared to state sponsored residual market entities such as those in New York and California).
"The 2007 report provides additional evidence that the Florida Legislature's reforms continue to be effective," says Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty. "More important, reductions in workers' compensation rates show that the state of Florida is committed to being a good place to do business."
The report highlighted other favorable trends in Florida's workers' compensation market: Overall workers' compensation claim frequency is on the decline, which continues to offset any increases in claim severity costs; companies are performing well in their underwriting, and the Florida Workers' Compensation Joint Underwriting Association, the insurer of last resort, had only $37.3 million in written premium in 2006–less than 1% of the Florida market. Through November 2007, written premium had declined further to $19.2 million.
Source: FLOIR
