Mental Injury Remains Hot Legislative Topic

NCCI said it is currently monitoring 157 proposed workers compensation-related regulations on the state or federal level.
The group said mental injury-related legislation continues to be a hot topic in workers comp, particularly issues related to first responders.
At least five states, including California, Connecticut and Hawaii, are considering cancer-related legislation, after several states, including Nevada and Virginia, enacted similar laws in the last year.
While marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, the group said several states continue to consider legalization in various forms, as well as marijuana reimbursements for workers’ compensation treatment.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will host a Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Asides (WCMSA) Reporting webinar on Oct. 1, 2025 at 2 pm ET.
The program will review the WCMSA reporting process that was implemented earlier this year, as well as to shares CMS’s perspective on some of the issues encountered as well as WCMSA reporting best practices.
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. General questions can be submitted prior to the webinar and participants are encouraged to send them to the dedicated resource mailbox at PL110-173SEC111-comments@cms.hhs.gov.
CMS will not be addressing questions regarding specific cases.
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The Hawaii Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company (HEMIC) will pay a dividend to qualifying policyholders totalling $5 million.
The state mutual insurance firm’s decision marks the 19th consecutive year of paying dividends, and the second year at the $5 million level.
To qualify for a dividend, HEMIC policyholders must have been insured for more than one consecutive policy term and demonstrate a history of good performance.
HEMIC says it covers 7,000 businesses and more than 75,000 workers across the Hawaiian Islands.
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The owner of several concrete construction firms, Benedetto Cupo, has been indicted by New York City’s Manhattan District Attorney on a range of alleged frauds, including defrauding the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) of more than $1.1 million.
“Workers’ compensation insurance is essential for New York’s businesses to protect their employees in case of injury, illness or death. Defrauding the system hurts all businesses and jeopardizes the health and welfare of those who must rely upon it,” said NYSIF executive director and CEO Gaurav Vasisht.
The charges stem from several COVID-19 related Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications that allegedly falsely listed a Cupo associate as a company owner on a NYSIF application.
Cupo allegedly obtained two different NYSIF workers’ compensation insurance policies on behalf of one of his companies by providing materially false information, including claiming that the company had fewer than 10 employees, when in reality, it typically employed more than 100 people, including laborers, carpenters, and rebar workers.
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