WCIRB Admits to $7B Error Further Polarizing Reform Debate

The California Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) yesterday sent a memorandum to the Department of Insurance saying that it had discovered an error in how it had calculated the impact of workers' comp legislation passed last year by some $7 billion.While Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi tried to spin the news into evidence that cost controls passed last year were working, Senator Richard Alarcon said that the news shows rate regulation needs to be a part of reform.Last year, the WCIRB projected 2004 losses at $24.9 billion in medical and indemnity. The revised figures s...