Pinnacol Part 3 The Legislature Slows Down

The effort to assess $500 million against Pinnacol Assurance this year is over. The politicians decided that they would not likely obtain any funds from Pinnacol this year to help with the state shortfall. Pinnacol made it quite clear they would litigate and we all know litigation can take time so the money would not be available to help with the budget. However it is clear they intend to try reassert state control over Pinnacol. Read the latest here. As I noted in earlier blog posts Pinnacol is a hybrid company that is part public part private in how it operates. As I said workers comp claimants would not benefit either way from all this but I still maintain that employers and employees lost here. Employers paid more then was needed and injured employees received less in benefits such that Pinnacol accumulated a ton of funds. Yet Colorado itself, including the hearings office have had to make cuts to operate. I am sure Colorado will push for reform in this area but it will take time to fashion a solution that is going to work.