| 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 Pennsylvania, click here.
WASHINGTON, DC–Pennsylvania workers’ compensation payments fell as a share of payroll in 2004 to their lowest level in 15 years, according to two studies released today by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). Compared to the wages of workers covered by the program, benefit payments fell by 4 cents per $100 of payroll—from $1.30 per $100 in 2003 to $1.26 per $100 in 2004, the latest year for which data are available. The decrease occurred both in payments to providers of medical care and in cash payments to injured workers.
Over the past 15 years, workers’ compensation payments in Pennsylvania have broadly followed national trends. Pennsylvania payments peaked as a fraction of covered payroll in the early 1990s and then declined through 2001. Since then, payments as a share of payroll rose slightly in and then declined in 2004.
Although workers’ compensation benefits have grown more slowly in Pennsylvania, they remain higher than the national average. While benefits in Pennsylvania were $1.26 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 Pennsylvania: Benefits and Coverage, 2004 compares recent trends in workers’ compensation for Pennsylvania 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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See related news: Disability, Workers' Compensation