Workers' Compensation Update: 2018-19 Loss Cost Approval

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Late last Friday, the Department of Financial Services approved an 11.7 percent reduction in loss cost rates, which are the basis for setting workers’ compensation premiums for 2019. The result will be significant workers’ compensation savings for most New York employers next year. This reduction, coupled with the 4.5 percent rate cut achieved in the first year of the 2017 reforms, means overall system costs will be reduced by upwards of one billion dollars.

These savings, a result of The Business Council’s hard-fought 2017 reform efforts, would not have been achieved without our members and key state lawmakers from both houses and both sides of the aisle, who recognized the need to get this done. We especially want to single out Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan along with Senators Amedore and Akshar and Assembly members McDonald and Woerner for their tireless advocacy.

The 2017 reforms capped classification of Maximum Medical Improvement, reigning in the high costs associated with the needless delay of claim finalization. The adoption of new Impairment Guidelines for scheduled loss of use awards, which eliminate unnecessary monetary bonuses associated with certain injuries and treatments, are set to render savings to the system. The anticipated adoption of a pharmaceutical formulary will hopefully do the same.

The reforms achieved balance by enhancing coverage for injured workers through decreasing the threshold for the permanent partial disability cap “safety net”. The reforms also removed the requirement that an injured worker, who was entitled to benefits and attached to the labor market at the time of classification, demonstrate attachment to the labor market.

For an questions, please contact Lev Ginsburg.

Lev Ginsburg, Esq. | Director of Government Affairs
The Business Council of New York State, Inc.
111 Washington Avenue, Ste 400 | Albany, NY 12210
Tel. 518.694.4462 | Fax 518.465.4389
[email protected]