| July 26, 2006
Contact:
New Reports Track 15-Year Trend in Payments
For Immediate Release: July 26, 2006
Contact: Jill Braunstein at (202) 452-8097
To download the full report, click here.
To download a brief for the state of Minnesota, click here.
WASHINGTON, DC–Minnesota workers’ compensation payments to medical care providers rose while payments to injured workers fell as a share of payroll in 2004, according to two studies released today by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). Compared to wages of workers covered by the program, payments to medical care providers in Minnesota rose from $0.42 to $0.44 per $100 of covered payroll in 2004, the latest year for which data are available. At the same time, cash payments to injured workers in Minnesota fell by 2 cents to $0.46 per $100 covered payroll in 2004. Total Minnesota payments in 2004 were $0.90 per $100 of covered payroll, down 1 cent from $0.91 per $100 of payroll in 2003.
Over the past 15 years, workers’ compensation payments in Minnesota have broadly followed national trends. Nationally, payments peaked as a fraction of covered payroll in the early 1990s and then declined through 2000. Since 2000, payments as a share of payroll have increased modestly.
In relation to payroll, Minnesota payments for workers’ compensation are below the U.S. average. While benefits in Minnesota were 90 cents per $100 of state covered payroll in 2004, national benefits were $1.13 per $100 of covered payroll.
More details may be found in the two documents released today by NASI. Workers’ Compensation: Benefits, Coverage, and Costs, 2004 is the ninth report in a series on workers’ compensation that provides the only comprehensive national data on these state-run programs. Workers’ Compensation in Minnesota: Benefits and Coverage, 2004 compares recent trends in workers’ compensation for Minnesota and the nation as a whole. Both items are available on NASI’s website, www.nasi.org.
EXPERTS TO CONTACT:
Ishita Sengupta
National Academy of Social Insurance
(202) 452-8097
isengupta@nasi.org
John F. Burton, Jr.
Study Panel Chair
Rutgers University
(732) 274-0600
jfburton@rci.rutgers.edu
Allan Hunt
Assistant Executive Director
W.E.Upjohn Institute
(269) 343-5541
hunt@upjohninstitute.org
Jim Ellenberger
worker perspective
Former Deputy Commissioner
Virginia Employment Commission
(703) 938-8349
ellenbergerjn@cs.com
Robert Steggert
employer perspective
Marriott International, Inc.
(301) 380-7499
bob.steggert@marriott.com
Eric Nordman
National Association of Insurance Commissioners
(816) 783-8005
enordman@naic.org
Greg Krohm
International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC)
(608) 663-6355
gkrohm@iaiabc.org
The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization made up of the nation’s leading experts on social insurance. Its mission is to promote understanding and informed policymaking on social insurance and related programs through research, public education, training, and the open exchange of ideas.
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