California COVID-19 Workers’ Comp Claim Volume Trending up Again December 22, 2020
The CWCI reviewed claims reported to the state Division of Workers’ Compensation as of Dec. 14.
Updated figures show that the number of COVID-19 workers’ comp claims reported to the state each month rose steadily from January through July of this year, when it peaked at 14,925 cases, then tailed off sharply at the end of the summer, dropping 56.5% in August and then falling another 34.7% in September.
The Dec. 14 tally noted 4,628 COVID-19 claims from October and 10,395 claims from November, bringing the total number of reported virus claims through November to 65,165, or nearly one out of every 8 California workers’ comp claims reported this year.
Expansion of Workers’ Comp for COVID-19 Created Narrow Benefit in 6 States
While at least 17 states have passed laws or issued orders that expanded access to workers’ compensation benefits for employees who contract COVID-19, many of those directives are creating new exposure for only a sliver of the workforce, new research by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute shows.
WCRI studied policies adopted by Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota and Missouri in response to the pandemic.
Researchers found that the broadest expansion of the six states an executive order issued by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear created additional claim exposure for only 4% of the state’s workers, when adjusted to account for the risk of exposure. The orders expanded exposure by more than 3% but less than 4% of workers in each of the other states except for two states – Minnesota, at 2.8% and Missouri, at 0.8%.
California Workers’ Comp Public Self-Insured Med-Only Claims Drop December 11, 2020
Initial data on fiscal year 2019/2020 public self-insured claims experience in the California workers’ compensation system show claim volume fell 6.4% compared with the prior year, but medical-only claims accounted for nearly all of that decline, a new report out from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute shows.
Average indemnity payments per claim rose 16.9%, more than offsetting a 3.7% decline in average medical payments, so even though there were fewer claims, total paid benefits increased for the sixth year in a row, edging up by $2.2 million to a record $414.9 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, according to the CWCI report.