Garamendi Says Committee will Adopt His Ideas

The Contra Costa Times ran an interview last week of Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, primarily regarding his take on the current state of workers' compensation in the state. Garamendi told the Times that the present work comp mess was the product of deregulation a decade ago that coincided with increased medical costs. Medical cost inflation was masked by carrier price wars, lulling employers into security, but "When the price wars ended, and 25 companies ended up going bankrupt, all of those escalating costs had to be caught up. It was catch-up time ... beginning in 2000 and 2001 [when...