November 19, 2024
Florida employers will soon see the smallest decrease in workers’ compensation rates in years – just a 1% reduction from current overall rates in the voluntary market.
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced Monday that the insurance commissioner had given final approval to the decrease, which was recommended in August by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. “F” classes, for employers that do maritime or federal work, will see a 13.9% average rate decrease.
The new rates take effect Jan. 1 for new and renewal workers’ compensation policies. Individual employers’ premiums will vary depending on injury experience, type of work, and other factors.
The latest decrease, while unusually small, reflects a cumulative drop of almost 78% since 2003, the NCCI said in its presentation to OIR. That year, 2003, was the year the Florida legislature made historic changes to workers’ compensation laws, reducing costs for many businesses.
The latest rate is the eighth straight year for workers’ comp rate rate reductions in the state and follows a 15.1% average cut in 2024 and an 8.4% decrease in 2023.
The small size of the 2025 decrease was due in large part to Florida Senate Bill 362, approved early this year, which raised reimbursement for worker-treating physicians for the first time in several years. The maximum payments to doctors who care for injured workers jumped from 110% of Medicare’s reimbursement level to 175%, and came after years of debate by insurers and physicians’ advocates.
Without that increase in reimbursement, the overall comp rate decrease for Florida would have been about 6.4%, the NCCI explained.
The 2025 rate recommendation was based on data from policy years 2021 and 2021. The NCCI, which recommends rates and loss cost decreases for 38 states, said that lost-time claim frequency has continued to decrease in Florida and most states. Across the country, claim severity changes have been moderate.
The tiny rate cut may come as welcome news to some employers. A member of the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association last year warned that repeated, hefty rate cuts could lead to complacency among some contractors and does not reflect the fact that many construction injuries are unreported.
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