Without health care reform in California, the issues continu

 

Tuesday, Mar 24,2009, 12:26:17 AM   Click:

Copyright 2009 San Jose Mercury NewsAll rights reserved San Jose Mercury News (California)

Sunday 22 March 2009

SECTION: NEWS; opinion; Editorials

LENGTH: 495 words


TITLE: Editorial: No health care reform in California, workers' comp issues continue

Signature: Mercury News Editorial



Get ready, California businesses. As if there was not enough to fear, an advisory board recommended last week, 24.4 per cent increase in the rate of workers' compensation insurance this summer.

Maybe John Garamendi, former commissioner of insurance was lieutenant governor, has the right a few years ago when he said workers' comp issues in California are like cockroaches: impossible to kill.

The recommended increase is not binding. The analysis by the Workers' Compensation Rating Board of the Office serves as a general indication of where the insurers are headed in the coming months and gives businesses and nonprofit organizations a way to assess where they are. The view is not pretty.

The surge in medical costs is the reason for the projected increase. And without the health care reform, it is difficult to see that trend reversed. With the cost of claims showing double-digit increases, it is difficult for insurers not to pass this long for companies.

State business leaders should be this tendency to look back and to the health care reform serious.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Governor of the bipartisan, workers' compensation reforms in 2004 have worked wonders for the last four years. The rates have decreased 63 percent, and California, have saved businesses an estimated $ 14 billion per year. But the trend is showing signs of reversing.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner tempers generally projected in the opinion of the office and will probably offer something higher than 24 percent as required for the coming year. But as the office, its recommendations are not binding. The costs will be the driving force rate.


Poizner has scheduled a hearing on April 28 to investigate the cause of rising medical costs in workers' compensation system. But the increase should not be a surprise. Health care costs across the country are out of control.

Major health insurance reform is the answer. But it will not happen until business leaders recognize the need for it and start working with labor and other interests on what reform should look like.

California can not afford to repeat the horrors of the late 1990s and early 2000. The cost to businesses rose to $ 9 billion in 1995 to 30 billion in 2003. Some companies have killer three-digit increases. The vast majority of double-digit increases, with a peak in 2003 when the State has the highest workers' compensation costs, by far, in the nation, representing $ 6.46 per $ 100 of payroll.

California no longer holds that dubious distinction. Its $ 2.62 per $ 100 of payroll is now ranked 14th in the nation. But nobody wants to take a step back to 2003.

It took a disaster for Democrats, Republicans, labor and business to meet to find a solution for workers' comp mess in California. The crisis of health care in general is growing rapidly in this field. And anyone who thinks it will go away on its own May want to investigate the current estimate of the population of cockroaches.

GRAPHIC:

LOAD-DATE: March 22, 2009

Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.. All rights reserved
Terms and Conditions Privacy Policy