Staff Reports
Florida’s business owners will soon find out the fate of a proposed increase of nearly 20 percent in workers compensation insurance rates.
“We’re getting very close to being finished with those review and putting these rate filings out into the public, so our business owners and community can respond to that and plan effectively,” state Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier told Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet Tuesday.
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation held a public hearing in August on an industry group’s proposal to hike rates by 19.6 percent, effective on Oct. 1.
That group, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, reviews premium levels on behalf of most Florida insurance companies.
The council placed most of the blame on two Florida Supreme Court rulings — Castellanos v. Next Door Co.; and Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg, which struck down a limit on temporary total disability benefits. The council blamed Castellanos for 15 percent of its proposed rate hike.
The topic is high on the Legislature’s list of priorities, with business leaders and the trial bar staking out their positions.
“There’s going to be, I’m sure, a very passionate discussion on workers compensation insurance,” Altmaier said.
