Comp Carriers Told to Rethink Underwriting

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The combined ratio for private workers' compensation carriers dropped to the lowest level in 15 years in 2005, propelled in large part by a rapidly improving market in California, the National Council on Compensation Insurance reported Thursday during its Annual Issues Symposium. NCCI Chief Actuary Dennis Mealy told an audience of about 700 insurance executives that the national 102% combined ratio would have been 107% if it weren't for the turnaround in California, which enacted a series of cost-saving reform measures in 2003 and 2004. That 102% combined ratio -- a measure...