Work Comp Profits Down 86% in 2 Years

Profits in the workers' compensation insurance industry have declined an astonishing 86 percent since 1998. The first nine months of 2000 saw an industry total profit of $144 million compared to $1 billion during the same period in 1998, according to Weiss Ratings, Inc. The general property and casualty insurance industry experienced a decline of six percent in overall profits during the same time period. The failure rate among workers' comp carriers in 2000 7.7 percent (14 of 181), or 12 times higher than the failure rate of all other property and casualty insurers combined (only 0.6 perce...