California employers’ workers’ compensation insurance premiums jumped by $2 billion in 2014 but payments to workers for job-related injuries and illnesses remained static, while medical costs declined, according to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau.
The Oakland-based organization’s report, mandated by state law, provides new grist for the Capitol’s perennial wrangling over the multi-billion-dollar system’s costs and benefits.
Generally, the system undergoes an overhaul about once a decade as political alliances among its major stakeholders are formed and disbanded. Most recently, employers and labor unions, with the tacit support of insurers, persuaded the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown to enact provisions aimed at reducing medical costs and increasing cash benefits.
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