Colorado workers comp premiums to rise

It appears employers will have to plan on higher premiums for workers compensation in the coming year. As noted in this article the insurance

rates will be going up. It is asserted that the loss costs which pertain to lost wages and medical payments have been increasing by 5.2 per cent. You can expect many insurers will be raising their premium rates to make up for this. Pinnacol Assurance intends to raise rates by an average of 9.5 per cent as noted in this other article. The Pinnacol claim is that workers compensation has not been profitable since 2006. Colorado employers are still paying Pinnacol 32 per cent less than what they paid in 2006 even with this raise. At least that is the claim. Given the economy it seems difficult to fathom this raise. I have always thought that companies who were not profitable for many years would not be around but Pinnacol seems healthy enough to be doing okay. In any event this is the third year for rate increases in Colorado. Certainly we all know that medical costs still appear to be going up. I do point out that not every state agrees to raise rates and as pointed out here in Massachusetts the state questioned the figures as inflated and unreasonable. The point is that a state should carefully review matters and not assume the facts asserted by the industry are accurate. Seems like common sense to me.