THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, November 22, 1995           TAG: 9511220495
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   54 lines

EMPLOYERS LIKELY TO SEE DECREASE IN RATES FOR WORKERS' COMP COVERAGE

Helped by improved safety measures and better control of their health care costs, Virginia employers are likely to pay lower rates for workers' compensation coverage next year.

The State Corporation Commission on Monday approved a 13.1 percent reduction in the basic ingredient of workers' compensation rates.

Acting on an insurance industry application seeking lower rates, the commission also approved a 17.3 percent cut in the basic part of workers' comp rates for the assigned-risk market.

The assigned-risk pool routinely serves as the last resort for employers who cannot find workers' compensation coverage through conventional means.

When it considered the industry's filing for workers' comp rates, the commission took into account several factors, including a reduction in the number of claims filed, said commission spokesman Kenneth Schrad.

``Companies have done a better job of maintaining safety on the job,'' he said. In addition, programs by insurance companies and employers have gotten injured workers back to work more quickly than in the past, Schrad said.

Workers' compensation covers health care bills and a portion of lost wages for individuals injured on the job. State law requires that most employers in Virginia have this coverage.

While the commission approved a lower base rate for workers' comp coverage in Virginia, the rates paid by individual employers will vary depending on job types. Among the items to be considered will be the employer's history of insurance claims, the size of its work force and other factors.

The new rates will take effect on workers' comp policies written or renewed on or after Jan. 1.

In an effort to provide insurance companies with greater flexibility to meet employer needs, Virginia changed the way the corporation commission approved workers' comp rates three years ago.

Since the change, insurers providing workers' compensation coverage in Virginia have suffered fewer losses in the assigned-risk market, said Marie Kinietz, a spokeswoman in Richmond for the National Council on Compensation Insurance. ``The number of companies in the assigned-risk market is about the same, but the volume of premiums has gone down substantially,'' she said.

The share of premiums coming from the assigned-risk market used to be 33 percent, Kinietz said. ``Now it's down to 26 to 27 percent.''

The Council on Compensation Insurance gathers workers' comp data and files rate applications for insurance companies in Virginia and several other states.

KEYWORDS: WORKMAN'S COMPENSATION

by CNB