Oregon Workers’ Compensation Payments Fell While U.S. Spending Rose in 2003

Oregon Spending for Medical Treatment Outpaced Spending for Cash Benefits for Injured Workers

For Immediate Release: July 21, 2005
Contact: Jill Braunstein at (202) 452-8097

To download the full report, click here.

WASHINGTON, DC – In Oregon, total workers’ compensation payments for injured workers’ cash benefits and medical care fell by 0.2 percent to $447 million in 2003, according to a report released today by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). Nationally, workers’ compensation payments grew by 3.2 percent to $54.9 billion in 2003, the latest year for which national data are available.

Over the five years ending in 2003, Oregon spending for medical care for injured workers outpaced spending for cash benefits to replace workers’ lost wages. Figure 1 shows the trend in workers’ compensation spending per $100 of aggregate payroll for Oregon workers between 1999 and 2003. Payments for workers’ compensation medical treatment rose from 39 cents to 45 cents per $100 of payroll. Cash benefits rose from 42 to 46 cents between 1999 and 2001 and then fell to 41 cents per $100 of payroll in 2003.

For the nation as a whole, workers’ compensation payments for medical treatment outpaced payments for cash benefits to injured workers. Between 1999 and 2003, national spending for workers’ compensation medical care rose from 46 cents to 54 cents per $100 of national payroll, while payments for cash benefits fell slightly from 64 to 62 cents per $100 of national payroll.

The report, Workers’ Compensation: Benefits, Coverage, and Costs, 2003, is the eighth in a NASI series that provides the only comprehensive national data on this largely state-run program. The study provides estimates of workers’ compensation payments – cash and medical – for each state, the District of Columbia, and the federal programs providing workers’ compensation benefits.

NOTE TO REPORTERS AND EDITORS: The full report and state-specific information are available from the Academy’s website at www.nasi.org. For a free copy of the printed report, contact Jill Braunstein at (202) 452-8097 or by e-mail at jillbraun@nasi.org.

EXPERTS TO CONTACT:

Ishita Sengupta
National Academy of Social Insurance
(202) 452-8097
isengupta@nasi.org

Virginia Reno
National Academy of Social Insurance
(202) 452-8097
vreno@nasi.org

John F. Burton Jr.
Study Panel Chair
Rutgers University
(732) 274-0600
jfburton@rci.rutgers.edu

Robert E. McGarrah, Jr.
worker perspective
AFL-CIO
(202) 637-5335
(202) 431-9838 cell
rmcgarra@aflcio.org

Donald Elisburg
worker perspective
Donald Elisburg Law Office
(301) 299-2950
delisbur@infionline.net

Eric J. Oxfeld
employer perspective
UWC – Strategic Services on Unemployment and Workers’ Compensation
(202) 637-3463
oxfelde@uwcstrategy.org

Robert Steggert
employer perspective
Marriott International, Inc.
bob.steggert@marriott.com

Barry Llewellyn
National Council of Compensation Insurance
(201) 386-2627
Barry_Llewellyn@ncci.com

Eric Nordman
National Association of Insurance Commissioners
(816) 783-8005
enordman@naic.org

The National Academy of Social Insurance 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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