Entries for 2004/03/13 — 2004-12-11

Playing the numbers game...

State Senate Democrat Richard Alarcon (archived), author of some of last year's workers compensation reforms announced that savings (archived) from those reforms amounted to $7 billion based on revised estimates of the WCIRB [Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California].

It's hard to keep up with these numbers. The way I remember them is as follows: Estimates of the cost of workers comp for 2003 are first made at $29 billion. After the reforms they are lowered to $25 billion. The governor announces that he wants to make reforms to take $11 billion out of the system. Now, the announcement comes that 2003 is estimated at $17.9 billion.

By the way, there has been absolutely no requirement that insurers pass on premium savings to the employers paying the premiums. The insurers are on their way to millions in profit while at the same time small businesses are being pinched by increased premiums. What's wrong with this picture?