OhioBWC - Home: Current News

OhioBWC - Home: Current News

Media Advisory: May 28, 2010

BWC Board of Directors Finalize Upcoming Rate Reduction

Agency’s FY11 Budget Also Approved

COLUMBUS – The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Board of Directors today approved rule changes that support last month’s vote for a 3.9-percent overall private employer premium rate decrease for the upcoming policy year, beginning July 1, 2010. The upcoming rate cut represents an overall 35-percent base rate reduction since July 1, 2007.

Today’s recommendation by BWC staff and its consulting actuary, Deloitte, shows a reduction in base rates for 396 of the 531 manual classifications. This represents an overall 8.4 percent decrease in base rates since 2009. Manual classification base rates are used in the formula to calculate employer premiums. Because private employers pay for their workers’ compensation coverage six months in arrears, they will see this latest decrease in their January 2011 statements.

“Three years of comprehensive rate reform efforts have lowered workers’ compensation base rates for the majority of Ohio’s private employers to their lowest levels in at least two decades,” said BWC Administrator Marsha Ryan. “Thanks to rate reform, our rates are now more actuarially sound, and we are confident that each employer is paying a rate that more closely corresponds with the risk they present to the system.”

Since 2007, BWC’s comprehensive rate reform is responsible for lowering base rates in 84 percent of the manual classifications used to compute employer premiums. Ohio’s manual classifications are based on National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. (NCCI) standard manual classifications, which are used by most states to calculate rates for hundreds of job classifications. NCCI is the nation's largest provider of workers compensation ratemaking data.

The board also approved BWC’s Fiscal Year 2011 Administrative Budget. The $284 million budget is approximately $22 million or seven percent less than the amount approved for Fiscal Year 2010, and approximately $45 million or 13 percent less than the appropriation level approved by the Ohio General Assembly.

Also today, three directors were administered the oath of office by Chairman Bill Lhota following their re-appointments by Governor Ted Strickland. Re-appointed members include James W. Harris, Charles A. Bryan and Alison L. Falls. Chairman Lhota, who was also re-appointed and was recently sworn-in by Governor Strickland. Each of the directors was re-appointed to a three-year term.

“Since its inception, the BWC Board of Directors has worked cohesively to make significant improvements to the Ohio workers’ compensation system,” added Ryan. ”The re-appointments will enable us to work seamlessly to enhance services to injured workers and Ohio employers.”

The next meeting of the BWC Board of Directors will be Friday, June 18, 2010 at 8 a.m. in Room 3, Level 2 of the William Green Building, located at 30 W. Spring St., Columbus.

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