Department of Insurance Schedules Public Information Sessions on Workers’ Compensation Rates

DOVER, DE – Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart announced today that the Department of Insurance will hold three public information sessions regarding Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau Filing No. 1502, which proposes workers’ compensation insurance rates for the upcoming year:

Tuesday, October 20, 2015, at 2:00 p.m.

Insurance Department

841 Silver Lake Blvd., Dover, DE 19904

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Tuesday, October, 20, 2015, at 7:00 p.m.

Delaware Technical Community College – Owens Campus

Theater Auditorium – Arts & Science Center

21179 College Drive, Georgetown, DE 19947

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Wednesday, October 21, 2015, at 6:00 p.m.

Carvel State Office Building, 2nd Floor Auditorium

820 North French Street, Wilmington, DE 19801

The purpose of the three public information sessions is to provide information to the public on the process followed by the Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau (DCRB) in the preparation and filing of Filing No. 1502, and the process followed by the Department of Insurance in reviewing Filing No. 1502.  The public information sessions are not the forum to discuss or debate the merits of the DCRB rate filing, or whether it should be approved or disapproved.  Those topics will be the subject of a future public administrative hearing.

The docket number assigned to this matter is 2916-2015. A copy of Filing No. 1502 can be located online:

http://www.dcrb.com/dcrb/filings/1502/d_filing_1502.htm

The public is invited to make comments in writing or orally at the public information sessions.  Written comments must be received no later than Monday, October 19, 2015, by 4:00 p.m., and should be addressed to the attention of Rhonda West, Regulatory Specialist, Delaware Department of Insurance, 841 Silver Lake Boulevard, Dover, DE 19904; or can be sent via email to mailto: DOI_WorkersComp@delaware.gov  Any public comment submitted, along with the names and addresses of those submitting public comments, will be published on the Delaware Department of Insurance website and is subject to release under 29 Del. C. §§ 10001 – 10006.

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For Immediate Release
For more information contact Jerry Grant at 302-674-7303

Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart Announces
Substantial Decreases in Workers’ Compensation Rates

Expected Savings for Employers May Reach $20 million

DOVER, DE  – Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart today approved the Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau’s workers’ compensation amended rate filing, resulting in overall average decreases of 9.7% in the residual market rate and 11.5% in the voluntary market loss cost.

The decreases are the result of cooperation among the DCRB, the Department of Insurance and Delaware’s Ratepayer Advocate, and are expected to save employers approximately $20 million in insurance costs this year.

“After several years of rate increases, I am pleased to announce a decrease in the premium most business owners will pay this year when purchasing workers’ compensation insurance,” said Commissioner Stewart. “As I said when the preliminary numbers were released in the fall, the decrease is the result of all the stakeholders working together to bring down Delaware’s high health care costs, which have been driving rates up over recent years.

“I want to thank the General Assembly for passing House Bill 373 last session, requiring that medical costs be reduced over the next three years.  I particularly want to thank my fellow members of the Governor’s Workers Compensation Oversight Panel, including Chair Rich Heffron, and Attorney General Matt Denn, past Chair of Workers’ Compensation Task Force, for doing the hard work that laid the foundation for HB 373.”

The effective date of the decrease is retroactive to December 1, 2014 for new and renewal business.

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Learn how your business could save up to 19% on workers’ compensation insurance premiums by participating in the Delaware Workplace Safety Program. Learn more about the program by visiting http://delawareinsurance.gov/services/workplacesafetydiscount.shtml, or call 302-674-7377.

Delaware Department of Insurance: “Protecting Delawareans through regulation and
education while providing oversight of the insurance industry to best serve the public.”

Commissioner Schedules Workers’ Compensation Rate Hearing

Decreases in rates supported by independent actuaries

DOVER, DE – Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart announced today that the Department of Insurance has scheduled a public hearing for January 12 and 13, 2015, to receive public comment on proposed rate decreases for Workers’ Compensation insurance for the upcoming year.

Commissioner Stewart has received filings from Milliman, Inc. and INS Consultants, Inc., two independent actuaries engaged by the DOI, and by a third independent actuary, AIS Risk Consultants, working for Delaware’s Ratepayer Advocate. All agree that an overall reduction in both residual market rates and in voluntary market loss costs, as proposed by the Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau under Filing No. 1404, is in order. All documents are available on the DOI website at www.delawareinsurance.gov

Public hearings on the filings are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, January 12 and 13, at 9:30 a.m. in the Carvel State Office Building at 9^th and French Streets in Wilmington. January 12 will be reserved for the receipt of oral comments from members of the public, and January 13 will be reserved for the introduction of evidence by the parties to the proceeding. If all parties agree, introduction of evidence by the parties may begin on the first day.

Public comment may be in writing or may be presented orally at the Hearing. Written comments must be received no later than Monday, January 5, 2015 by 4:30 p.m., and should be addressed to the attention of Nicole Holecek, Paralegal, Delaware Department of Insurance, 841 Silver Lake Boulevard, Dover, DE 19904. Also, those intending to provide oral comments at the hearing must notify Nicole Holecek at 302.674.7316 or Nicole.Holecek@delaware.gov, no later than 4:30 p.m., Monday, January 5, 2015.

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For more info contact Jerry Grant at 302-674-7303

Greets Students for First Day of School at Wilmington Manor Elementary School
Delivers Remarks at American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators Conference
Attends Workers’ Compensation Oversight Panel

DOVER, Del.– On Monday, Lt. Governor Matt Denn greets Wilmington Manor Elementary School students for their first day of the 2014-15 school year. He will be joined by Principal Stacie Ruiz and Colonial School District Superintendent Dr. Dusty Blakey.

He will then offer welcoming remarks at the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators Annual Conference. The event will be attended by more than 700 chief motor vehicle and law enforcement administrators from over 60 jurisdictions in the United States and Canada.

The Lt. Governor will then join Governor Markell in greeting the members of the Workers’ Compensation Oversight Panel, chaired by Rich Heffron. The Lt. Governor will address the members of committee, formed by consolidating the Data Collection Committee and the Health Care Advisory Panel. The committee creation was a result of work done by the Workers’ Compensation Task Force, chaired by the Lt. Governor, as part of the effort to address the significant increases in workers compensation costs for Delaware businesses. The panel is tasked with implementing statutory changes that are expected to result in a rate reduction for employers purchasing workers compensation insurance.

Monday, August 25, 2014
8:00am – 8:20am Welcomes Students at Wilmington Manor Elementary School
200 East Roosevelt Avenue
New Castle

9:15am – 10:00am Remarks at AAMVA Conference
Dover Downs
Dover

4:00pm – 4:15pm Workers’ Compensation Oversight Panel Meeting
Department of Labor
Fox Valley Annex
19 W. Lea Blvd
Wilmington

Dover, DE – The State Senate passed Workers’ Compensation legislation this afternoon to stop the large workers’ compensation rate increases that are burdening Delaware businesses.  HB 373 was developed by incorporating recommendations of the Delaware Workers’ Compensation Task Force over the last 18 months. It passed the House earlier this month.

Workers’ compensation rates have been a major concern for Delaware employers for a number of years.  House Bill 373 will make the system more efficient and will result in relief for Delaware businesses that have had to endure such significant premium increases over the past few years.

“I applaud the Lt. Governor’s work on this extremely important issue for Delaware’s business community,” said Governor Markell. “His leadership ensured the task force acted swiftly and effectively to address the high rates that have burdened our employers.  The bipartisan reform represents the culmination of a great deal of work, commitment and compromise by everyone involved with the task force.”

The Workers’ Compensation Task Force was created on January 30, 2013 by the Delaware General Assembly and the Governor, and charged with an expedited review of Delaware law relating to workers’ compensation, the impact that the 2007 amendments to that law had upon workers’ compensation premiums, the reasons for recent increases in workers’ compensation premiums, and whether any additional changes to statutes, regulations, or practices are required to control growth in premiums. As detailed in the task force’s prior report, Delaware’s workers’ compensation premiums had risen by calendar year 2006 to be the third most expensive in the country.

The task force delivered its first set of recommendations in May 2013 and those were consolidated into House Bill 175, which passed the Delaware House of Representatives and Delaware State Senate unanimously.  Among the provisions of House Bill 175 was one that continued the existence of the task force through June 30, 2014.  Its second set of recommendations was released with a report for the General Assembly in May 2014, and House Bill 373 was a result of those findings and suggestions.

The recommendations for House Bill 373 focused almost exclusively on medical costs, as they make up 65% to 70% of every dollar spent on workers’ compensation premiums in Delaware, and make up 100% of the increase in premiums.  The most substantial provision in this bill is a significant reduction in the reimbursements paid to health care providers for treatment of workers’ compensation patients.  The task force has revealed that reimbursements for treatment of workers’ compensation patients in Delaware has evolved to be among the highest in the country – in some cases three, four, or even five times the reimbursement for exactly the same procedure than what is allowed in other states.

Broadly, the recommendations fall into three areas:

Heightened Oversight of Insurance Carriers, including consolidating the Data Collection Committee and the Health Care Advisory Panel into a single committee and a Ratepayer Advocate to be hired and overseen by the Workers’ Compensation Oversight Panel, with staff support to be provided by the Department of Labor.

Stricter Control on Medical Costs, including directing the Workers’ Compensation Oversight Panel (WCOP) to create a new medical fee schedule, using multipliers of medical codes used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which results in a 33% reduction in reimbursements to health care providers for treatment of workers compensation patients, to be phased in over a three year period.  It also calls for reimbursements starting in 2017 for individual procedures to be capped at specific percentages of what the Medicare program pays for identical procedures, though it has a provision allowing the legislature to re-examine the impending Medicare caps in 2016 to determine whether they should be adjusted given the experience in 2015.  Finally, there is a  recommendation that the General Assembly (through the WCOP) monitor both the rate impact of these recommendations and their impact upon providers as the recommendations are phased in, and make statutory adjustments in the fee schedule if appropriate.

Consideration of New Rating Organization, recommending that DOI undertake a formal assessment of whether there should be a change in the rating organization used by Delaware insurance carriers, and include members of the task force who have expressed concerns about the current situation in that formal assessment.

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