Premium Renewal Rates Remain Negative

WC Only Commercial Line Without Renewal Rate Increase: Ivans Index

  • Workers’ compensation was the only commercial line to not show year-over-year premium renewal rate increases, according to the Q4 2024 and year-end analysis from Ivans Index.
  • The workers’ comp premium renewal rate change averaged -1.47%, down from Q3 2024 at -1.28%, according to the data.
  • Q4 began in October with the highest rate change of the quarter, averaging -1.43%, and reached its lowest rate of the quarter in November, averaging -1.52%.
  • The average premium renewal rate experienced variable change over the course of the year, however, the average premium renewal rate change did not rise above zero once throughout the year, compared with 2023 when it rose above zero once at 0.15% in November, according to the data.
  • Colorado’s annual premium renewal rate change of 3.06% was consistently higher relative to the yearly average of -1.23, with only one month falling below zero the entire year (-4.18% in May) and notable highs of 10.15% in April and 4.77% in February.
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CMS to Eliminate Review of Zero Dollar Medicare Set-Asides

  • The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will no longer accept or review WCMSA proposals with a zero dollar ($0) allocation, effective July 17, 2025.
  • The update published last Friday to the Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (WCMSA) Reference Guide finally formalizes which items CMS have been requiring for approval of zero-dollar MSAs for years, according to several industry experts.
  • Lawyers at Sanderson Firm said the move “is a positive result for Medicare Secondary Payer stakeholders as it now allows injured employees, carriers, and employers to confidently settle their workers’ compensation claims with a zero-dollar MSA without the hassle of submitting the zero MSA proposal to CMS and ‘rolling the dice’ on a CMS determination.” in a Jan. 17 firm blog post.
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Nebraska Legislators Consider Linking Chemicals to Cancers for Firefighter WC Claims

  • Nebraska state lawmakers will consider a cancer presumption for firefighters, linking their ailments to chemical exposures.
  • Introduced by veteran firefighter and now Senator Dave “Woody” Wordekemper, the bill introduced on Jan. 17 names the substances that are “known carcinogens,” based on medical research, linking them to more than a dozen types of cancers that would be acceptable under the presumption.
  • The coverage would be applicable to both career and volunteer firefighters.
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