Berkley Warns on WC Tariff Impact

The CEO of W.R. Berkley Corp. told analysts on the firm’s first-quarter earnings call on Monday that the carrier is watching the potential impact of Trump administration tariffs on pharmaceutical costs.
With the preponderance of drugs manufactured outside of the U.S., tariffs could inflate workers comp medical costs.
The company reported 11.8% growth in premiums in its workers’ compensation line, which, CEO W. Robert Berkley Jr. said, was fueled by growth in high-risk specialty coverages where competition is limited.
Asked about the potential impact of a recession on WC insurers, Berkeley said the line could remain profitable, the CEO said “medical costs are a little bit more than 50 percent of every claims dollar. So, one should not, in our opinion, underestimate the significance around that.”
The company’s Monday earnings report revealed its WC net premiums written reached $340.61 million, up from the comparable year-ago period’s $304.63 million.
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Montana now allows physician assistants and physical therapists to serve as injured worker treating physicians, after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 143 and Senate Bill 109 into law.
Physician assistants are only allowed to serve as treating physicians if there are no licensed physicians in the geographic area.
PAs are able to conduct impairment ratings in these scenarios.
Physical therapists licensed by the state are now included in the definition of a “treating physician” who is primarily responsible for delivery and coordination of a worker’s medical services for the treatment of a worker’s compensable injury or occupational disease.
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Walgreens will pay as much as $350 million in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle accusations that the pharmacy chain illegally filled millions of prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances.
The nationwide chain must pay the government at least $300 million and will owe another $50 million if the company is sold, merged or transferred before 2032, according to the settlement reached last Friday.
“We strongly disagree with the government’s legal theory and admit no liability,” Walgreens said in a statement. “This resolution allows us to close all opioid related litigation with federal, state, and local governments.”
The DoJ complaint, filed in January in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that Walgreens knowingly filled millions of illegal prescriptions for controlled substances between August 2012 and March 2023.
Walgreens allegedly sought payment for many of the invalid prescriptions through Medicare and other federal healthcare programs in violation of the False Claims Act, according to the government.
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