Pa. WC Costs Per Claim Continue Upward

Workers' compensation costs per claim in Pennsylvania continue to grow, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). The study by the Cambridge, Mass-based WCRI found that costs per claim rose 8.5 percent per year on average from 1999/2000 to 2001/ 2002, for claims with 12 months of experience. This contrasts with more moderate growth of four to five percent per year in the two years prior to 1999. Nevertheless, at an average of $2,710 per claim, total costs per workers' compensation claim in Pennsylvania are 15 percent lower than the median of the other states in a national study, CompScope(TM) Benchmarks: Multistate Comparisons, 4th Edition. The study of 12 states, representing about 60 percent of workers' compensation benefits paid nationally, provides a comparison of key system performance measures.