NCCI: COVID Could Cost Workers Compensation As Much As $80B

The effect of COVID-19 on workers compensation could range from $1 billion to $80 billion, according to a National Council on Compensation Insurance study that modeled the potential impacts of the virus.

The study, released Monday by the Boca Raton, Florida-based ratings agency, combined NCCI’s actual data on injury and medical costs with some key assumptions to generate multiple scenarios and model the potential impacts that COVID-19 could have on workers compensation in the 38 states where the agency serves as the licensed rating and statistical organization, said Jeff Eddinger, senior division executive at NCCI.

There is “a wide range of possible impacts” from the coronavirus because of the lack of knowledge on exact infection rates or compensability rates, ranging from $1 billion to $80 billion, he said.

“We don’t know what that (worst-case scenario) would do,” he said. “It’s two and a half times what is normally paid out in a year.”

In the study, NCCI estimated that 49 million to 62 million workers could potentially qualify as essential workers who could be eligible for workers compensation relating to COVID acquisition.