Long Holds N.C. Increase to 1.6%

North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Jim Long on Friday ordered a 1.6% increase in voluntary loss costs effective Apri1 1, as part of a settlement agreement with the North Carolina Rate Bureau (NCRB). Long said the increase trims about $56 million in pure premium employers would have had to pay next year based on NCRB's call to increase loss costs by 5.9%. NCBR also had called for 5.9% increase in the residual market. The settlement reduces that increase to 4.1%, Long said. While most other states in the region are seeing declines in loss costs, North Carolina has seen rates go up fo...