Oakland, CA – The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB) Governing Committee recently voted to authorize the WCIRB to submit a January 1, 2021 Advisory Pure Premium Rate Filing to the California Insurance Commissioner.

The filing will propose advisory pure premium rates that will be on average approximately 2.6 percent above the average approved January 1, 2020 advisory pure premium rates.

In his presentation to the Governing Committee, WCIRB Executive Vice President and Chief Actuary Dave Bellusci noted that absent the estimated impact of COVID-19 claims on 2021 policies, the WCIRB’s recommendation would reflect a modest decrease (1.3 percent) in advisory pure premium rates.

In addition to projecting the cost of COVID-19 claims to be incurred on 2021 policies, the WCIRB’s recommendation also reflected the impact of the pandemic related economic slowdown on wage growth, claim frequency and claim severity.

The WCIRB expects to submit its January 1, 2021 Advisory Pure Premium Rate Filing to the California Department of Insurance (CDI) during the week of August 24, 2020.

The CDI will schedule a public hearing to consider the filing, and once the Notice of Proposed Action and Notice of Public Hearing is issued, the WCIRB will post a copy in the Filings and Plans section of the WCIRB website.

More info: CA WCIRB Governing Committee Presentation – August 12, 2020 (PDF)

Source: CA WCIRB