State Approves Lower Worker Comp Rates

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) - Florida businesses will save some money next year.

The state's Office of Insurance Regulation has announced an overall 5.2 percent decrease in workers-compensation insurance rates. The announcement came after Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty last week rejected the National Council on Compensation Insurance's proposed overall 3.3 percent rate decrease.

Instead, McCarty gave NCCI, which files rate proposals each year, until Tuesday to re-file with a bigger cut.

McCarty deemed the initial filing as "excessive and unsupported" due to an increase in an underwriting-profit and contingency provision. NCCI represents about 250 insurers.

The new rates are scheduled to go into effect in January and follow a series of increases in recent years. Last year, the overall rate grew 0.7 percent. That came after increases of 6.1 percent, 8.9 percent and 7.8 percent in the three previous years.

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

RELATED CONTENT: