Influenced heavily by workers' compensation reforms enacted in California, U.S. workers' compensation payments for medical care and cash benefits for workers disabled by workplace injuries or diseases declined in 2005, according to a study released by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI).

The study analyzed payments made in 2005, the most recent year in which data is available. According to results, national workers' compensation payments for injured workers fell by 1.4 percent to $55.3 billion in 2005. The payments include $26.2 billion to providers of medical care and $29.1 billion in cash wage replacement benefits for injured workers.

The study also noted the heavy influence carried by California's workers' comp reforms that took effect in 2005 after being passed in 2003 and 2004. It said that California experienced a significant decrease in claim payments of more than 1 2 percent, which means that if the state was removed from the national average, U.S. workers' compensation payments would have actually increased by almost two percent.

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