SC Gov. Sanford Tries To Reel In State's Costly Workers Comp System
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford tries to reel in his state's very costly Workers Comp system.
There will be much debate about whether Governor Sanford can actually order a group of impartial (?) judges to use the American Medical Association (AMA) guidelines in deciding permanent disability ratings. There will also be questions about whether a Workers Comp judge can use synthetic future earnings on which to base part of the rating.
One thing is for sure. Workers Comp insurance rates for SC will see a reduction in a few years if Governor Sanford gets his way. Why?
Whenever we are doing file, premium, or reserve reviews for a SC client, we often have to email or call the adjuster that is on the file to answer a few questions or for a status. The reserving of a SC file is almost impossible with judges subjectively coming up with an impairment rating out of the blue.
What an employer pays premiums from is the total incurred figure set by adjusters on the respective employer's Workers Comp files. An adjuster has to increase the amount of total incurred and reserves more than a file in a state outside of SC. There is no way to GUESS what $ a judge is going to give a claimant at their viewing. I remember many years ago when I was trying to set reserves as an adjuster for South Carolina Work Comp claims. I usually put up quite a large amount of extra reserves for the viewings as they were so subjective.
A Workers Comp adjuster is going to usually go on the high side of their estimation. If there was some standard for permanent partial impairment ratings, everything would be much easier and save employers thousands. This is not to say that we should shortchange an injured employee, just have a standard.
There are certain quirks in all Workers Compensation laws in most states. This just happens to be one that is very costly to the South Carolina business community. This all will likely play out in the South Carolina Supreme Court and that will likely not be the end of it.
Next Up - Answering a Question We Received a Few Days Ago
There will be much debate about whether Governor Sanford can actually order a group of impartial (?) judges to use the American Medical Association (AMA) guidelines in deciding permanent disability ratings. There will also be questions about whether a Workers Comp judge can use synthetic future earnings on which to base part of the rating.
One thing is for sure. Workers Comp insurance rates for SC will see a reduction in a few years if Governor Sanford gets his way. Why?
Whenever we are doing file, premium, or reserve reviews for a SC client, we often have to email or call the adjuster that is on the file to answer a few questions or for a status. The reserving of a SC file is almost impossible with judges subjectively coming up with an impairment rating out of the blue.
What an employer pays premiums from is the total incurred figure set by adjusters on the respective employer's Workers Comp files. An adjuster has to increase the amount of total incurred and reserves more than a file in a state outside of SC. There is no way to GUESS what $ a judge is going to give a claimant at their viewing. I remember many years ago when I was trying to set reserves as an adjuster for South Carolina Work Comp claims. I usually put up quite a large amount of extra reserves for the viewings as they were so subjective.
A Workers Comp adjuster is going to usually go on the high side of their estimation. If there was some standard for permanent partial impairment ratings, everything would be much easier and save employers thousands. This is not to say that we should shortchange an injured employee, just have a standard.
There are certain quirks in all Workers Compensation laws in most states. This just happens to be one that is very costly to the South Carolina business community. This all will likely play out in the South Carolina Supreme Court and that will likely not be the end of it.
Next Up - Answering a Question We Received a Few Days Ago
posted by James J Moore at 3:33 PM
