West Virginia Moves To Privatize Comp

West Virginia Moves To Privatize Comp

By Steve Tuckey

NU Online News Service, Feb. 1, 2:58 p.m. EST?The West Virginia legislature has approved a measure to overhaul the state workers' compensation fund and transform it into a privately operated employers mutual plan by year's end.[@@]

The bill, approved at a special Saturday session, will also authorize $300 billion to pay off the system's unfunded liabilities.

Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin, who took office this year, predicted that workers' compensation premiums should decrease by 10 percent to 15 percent next year. He said that the state could not create any more new jobs until the system had been fixed.

Both houses of the Legislature are also controlled by Democrats

Private carriers will not enter the market until 2008.

Keith Bateman, vice president of the Chicago-area-based Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, said that it was too early to tell if the private market will find a hospitable environment in the state.

"There are just too many issues that have to be resolved before we can make any such judgments," he said.

David Reddick, state affairs manager for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, said he hoped the momentum of the workers' compensation reform effort will translate into much needed action on tort reform when the regular session of the Legislature convenes next week.