California written workers compensation premium for the first quarter of 2024 was 3% lower than the same quarter in 2023, although overall 2023 written premium was slightly higher than in 2022, according to a report released Wednesday by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California.
The report shows that the average charged rate in workers comp decreased in 2023 and was the lowest rate “in decades.” And the estimated average charged rate for the first quarter of 2024 is 1% lower than the prior–year quarter.
“Over the long term, declining claim frequency and increasing wage levels have offset rising medical costs and increases in indemnity benefits, resulting in decreases in average charged rates,” the report states.
The WCIRB said it had proposed a 0.9% advisory pure premium rate increase for Sept. 1. A spokesman noted that the state’s insurance commissioner has since approved advisory pure premium rates averaging $1.38 per $100 of covered payroll, a 2.1% reduction from the average a year earlier.
The report also said that claim frequency in 2022, 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 are more in line with the “modest frequency changes during the pre-pandemic period,” and that the sharp changes in frequency in 2020 and 2021 were strictly driven by pandemic-related economic downturn.
The WCIRB also said that after increasing during the early pandemic period in 2020, average pharmaceutical costs per claim reverted to pre-pandemic trends in 2021 and declined another 10% in 2023.