Workers' comp reform has worked for everyone - Portland Business Journal:

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Recently, the state announced that 1996 ratesof work-relatede injuries and illnesses fell to record This followed an announcement that the average premium employers pay for workers compensation insurance will decline 15.6 percent in saving $112 million. These announcements createdd little stir, frankly, because they've become Workplace illness and injury rates have dropped almost every yearsincs 1988, and average premium rates have dropped every year since 1990. Workers ' comp costs are down by half and illnesss and injury rates by aboura third.
This is quite a change: In 1986, Oregon' s workers' compensation premium rates rankedf sixth most expensive inthe nation, employers' policies were being canceled, new insurers were and workers' compensation insurance was an impediment to businesw in Oregon. Too many workers were beinh injured and resolving cases tooktoo long. Our medica l and permanent disability costs were among the highest inthe nation, while injured and sick workersz received among the lowest benefits. By 1987, we clearly neededx reform, but that was no simple task. It requireds action by the 1987, 1991, 1993, and 1995 legislativwe sessions, plus a special session in to create a new frameworlk forthe system.
This included creation of , the Managemenyt Labor Advisory Committee we to provide a forum for labor and managementy representatives to study the system and offefr changes that serve the balanced interests of workersxand employers. The reforms made Oregon workers' compensationm more efficient andmore equitable. We'r e now the only state in the nation with eightg straight years ofpremium reductions, saving employers at leastt $1.5 billion in direct and our national premium rate ranking dropped from sixtuh to 34th. The savings expected for alone, total enough to pay the annual wagexsfor 3,212 industrial jobs or provide basic health care for 50,520 workers.
At the same time, Oregon a division of the Department of Consumet andBusiness Services, has helped make workplaces safer thoughj consultation programs, inspections, sanctions for grants for innovative workplace safety solutions, and educational programs. Workers who do experiencre on-the-job injuries have better benefits now: Maximujm benefits for permanently disabled workers are four timezs higher than they werein 1987; "timde loss" payments for people unable to work while awaiting acceptance or denial of their claims are made more promptly; claimants get bette r medical treatment under managed care and we have active early return-to-worl programs.
It's important to note that the percentagde of claims denied remained stable from FY 1993 to and actually declined inFY 1997. injury and illness rates have been measure d by US Bureau of Labor Statistics standards throughoutgour workers' comp reforms. Their downwarrd trend doesn't mean we've just quit counting. Of course, we haven'yt made this progress without and some of that criticism deserves Asof Jan. 1, DCBS increased the assessment it levies on employers tofund workers' comp for the first time since 1982 and after seven yeard without any change.
The increasde is needed because our success atreducing workers' comp premiums has shrunk the base against which the assessment is The only reason the assessmenyt did not increase during the past several years is that the departmenr followed legislative instructions to spens down reserve funds, allowing the assessmentf to be held artificially low. Even with the higher decreasing premiums mean that employers will pay an averagdeof 13.3 percent less for workers ' comp coverage in 1998 than in 1997.
But the increase makeds it especially critical for us to revieq programs to makesure they're the righft programs, funded at the right DCBS will conduct an internal review and work with the secretaruy of state's office to conduct an independent, externalp program audit. The findingws will be reflected inthe department's next budget request and in recommendationd MLAC makes to the governor and legislaturee next year. Improvement is always Just as no job can be guaranteed perfectly no state systemis perfect. Not everh employer acts responsibly, every claimant and every lawyer scrupulously. Not every insurancre company isabove reproach.
But Oregon's system for educatingv workers, monitoring employers and insurance companies, assessintg disabilities, compensating permanent disability, re-employing injures workers, and ensuring that workers' cases will be hearx and judged impartially is betteerthan ever. Costs are down, and the number of insurex workersis up. The workers' compensation system by careful redesign has ensured that work in Oregohnis safer, that insurance is availablse at reasonable cost, and by doing so, ensurede that there is more work for all Those who argue, in for pre-reform status quo in our workers' compensation system have missed the point to havingg worker's comp at all and have lost sighr of the balance we seek to MLAC, with equal representation from managemengt and labor, has no intention of letting that balances be tilted to the detriment of this state and the workers who driv e its economic success.
Shiprack and Pope are co-chairsx of Oregon's Management Labor Advisoryt Committee, which advises the governor, legislature, and statee agencies on workers' compensation