Ill. Past Comp Costs Analyzed By WCRI

Workers' compensation costs in Illinois were among the highest of 14 states studied prior to the enactment of 2005 Illinois reforms, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute.

The study examined the performance of the Illinois system prior to the implementation of legislative changes. The Cambridge, Mass.-based WCRI said the report provides baselines for evaluating the impact of those reforms in the next few years.

Before the 2005 legislative changes, the average total cost per claim in Illinois was 31 percent higher than the 14-state median for injuries arising in 2002 with experience through part of 2005, WCRI said.

The major reasons for this result, WCRI found, were much higher medical payments per claim and a higher percentage of more seriously injured workers--those who lost more than a week of work (6 percentage points higher than the 14-state median).

Illinois also experienced double-digit growth in total cost per claim over most of the study period prior to the reforms. In the most recent year, costs per claim were growing in Illinois at nearly double the rate of the median study state.

The major driver, the report said, was the sustained growth in medical costs per claim--at or near double-digit rates each year.

The average medical payment per claim in Illinois was among the highest of study states at more than 60 percent higher than the 14-state median.

Although the average payment for lost wages--known as indemnity benefits--per claim with more than seven days of lost time in Illinois was typical of the other study states, this result masked offsetting factors.

The average duration of temporary disability was somewhat shorter in Illinois than in the median of the study states, but Illinois had a higher average weekly temporary total disability (TTD) benefit rate--in part the result of a higher-than-typical statutory maximum weekly benefit, WCRI reported.