Insurer Assessments to Rise to Offset Further Premium Reductions

Workers’ compensation reforms that lawmakers approved a dozen years ago have caused premiums to drop so much that the Texas Department of Insurance is proposing a 13.1% increase in maintenance taxes and fees to fund some of its operations. Next year, comp insurers would pay 2% of premium, instead of the current 1.8%, to fund the operations of the Division of Workers’ Compensation and the Office of Injured Employee Counsel, and an additional tax of .054% to fund the Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group. The DWC on Friday posted notice of the proposed incre...