Does RI Have a Workers Comp Problem?

(An Interview with Stephen Hickey, owner of Hickey Insurance)

 

Workers’ comp for RI state employees soars 54%, alarming officials -

Target 12 Headline from Sept. 16

 

A recent headline story by one of Rhode Island's local news outlets has created quite a buzz in some circles. For perspective, I turned to Stephen Hickey, a Rhode Island Insurance agency who has been involved in the issue for over 35 years. His knowledge and experience is useful to understand the history of Workers Comp in Rhode Island, where we started and where we are now, and whether or not this latest headline sheds light on a serious, growing problem, or not.

 

Before 1990

 

Pretty much every company in the state who was impacted by the need for Workers Comp were simply put into what was called an "assigned risk pool". Every company in the pool was assigned an insurance company by the state. The intention was to spread the "risk" evenly among the insurance companies. Each business would pay their premium to their assigned insurance provider and each provider, in turn, would pay into the pool. Any insurance company which "lost money" in any particular year would be compensated from the pool to bring them back to even. Any company that "made money" would put those "profits" back into the pool to offset the losses of the other companies.

 

The biggest problem with this system was that workers comp rates remained high because there was no incentive to lower them.

 

After 1990

 

Rhode Island businesses were suffering from high workers comp rates and having a difficult time staying competitive with businesses outside of the state. Because of this, the state of Rhode created Beacon Mutual Insurance under legislative charter. As such, Beacon can not operate outside of Rhode Island. Although not classified specifically as a non-profit, any profit that Beacon realizes is funneled back into the company to reduce rates.

 

The creation of Beacon ended the assigned risk pool and assigned all workers comp insurance to Beacon. This does not preclude other insurance companies from writing workers comp policies in the state. If they can beat Beacons' rates, companies are free to purchase insurance from them.

 

Although the overhaul of workers comp insurance did away with the assigned risk pool, there is still a "high risk pool". This is for companies that, for whatever reason, have injury/illness rates that are higher than normal. The cost of insuring these high risk companies is shared by all the insurance companies operating in Rhode Island, based on their percentage of the Rhode Island market.

 

Several important changes emerged from the 1990 overhaul that have a lowering effect on workers comp rates include:

 

 

This is the history that has brought us to where we are. But what about that local headlines??

 

Target 12 Report

 

Although the headline seems discouraging, the reasons for this jump in claims is not solely due to people being careless, or some sudden flaw in the workers comp system.

 

Source:  R.I. Transparency Portal • Digital graphic created by Target 12 Investigators

 

 

The above graphic shows that over half of the workers comp claims come from just two Rhode Island agencies. The Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH) is responsible for 18% of the claims, while the Department of Corrections (DOC) chips in another 36%.

 

There are reasons why this is the case, and they are not easily solved. The majority of these claims are back (or similar) injuries that are a result of moving and/or lifting patients (as in BHDDH), or from interactions with inmates (or on the job stress) as is the case in DOC.

 

Another reason why these two departments register such high claim numbers is that there is often no "light duty" option available. Add the high amount of staff turnover, necessary overtime and the issues associated with long hours, and it is easy to see how the numbers go up.

 

In response to the rising workers comp claims, as reported in the Target 12 report, Rhode Island entered into a contract with Beacon Mutual, the state-chartered insurer that specializes in workers’ compensation, to take on the state employee workers’ comp system.

 

The Warwick-based company will be paid on average about $1.7 million annually in exchange for a pledge to improve both workplace safety and the process that takes place after someone is injured.

 

The contract increased the state’s administrative costs, but DiBiase (Michael DiBiase, director of the R.I. Department of Administration) said officials are banking on a net decrease in overall workers’ comp costs this fiscal year as a direct result of Beacon Mutual making the program more efficient and the workplace safer.

 

How can ASN help?

 

The bad news - if workers comp seems complicated, that's because it is.

The good news - ASN will take the burden off your shoulders.

 

ASN handles all workers comp issues for you. In fact, since they are our employees, you don't have to worry about it. We handle premiums, claims, disputes, everything. We also stay on top of job classifications to make sure that no one is ever mis-classified.

 

If you have any questions regarding worker comp, our team of professionals will be glad to talk with you.