Governor Says 'Balanced' Reforms Needed to Curb Runaway Costs

Thursday, December 29, 2016 | 0

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner says that without “balanced” workers’ compensation reforms, the state will lose the ability to provide good jobs and expand its tax base.

Gov. Bruce Rauner

In an editorial published Wednesday by chicagobusiness.com, Rauner writes that Illinois pays two to three times more in comp benefits than the average state.

“When I meet with employers, both in Illinois and across the country, they cite two primary challenges for businesses in Illinois: the highest property tax burden in the nation and our uncompetitive workers’ compensation system,” Rauner wrote. “Those costs are particularly harmful to businesses with large physical footprints and large workforces. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Illinois has lost 34 percent of its manufacturing jobs since 2000 alone, while other states, like Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky, are growing.”

The editorial noted that Illinois is tied for the seventh-most-expensive rates in the country and highest in the Midwest.

“Forty-five percent of workers’ compensation costs are for medical services,” Rauner says. “While the 2011 reforms cut maximum fees, the cost for certain procedures remains multiple times — three, four, five times — the comparable Medicare rate. We can rebalance the fee schedule to find savings while protecting access to quality care and still compensating providers fairly.”