Obesity Drives Workers’ Comp Rates Up

NCCI is the largest provider of workers’ compensation and employee injury data and statistics in the nation. It compiles data for 36 states – including Arizona – and recommends to the Arizona Department of Insurance the workers’ compensation premium rate for each occupation.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports the percentage of the population considered obese increased from 12 percent in 1990 to more than 26 percent in 2007. By the year 2020, 40 percent of men and 43 percent of women are predicted to be obese.
The CDC says obesity can lead to lower self-esteem, depression and discomfort in social situations. Obesity also increases a person’s risk for diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, metabolic syndrome and polycystic ovary syndrome.
This trend, according to NCCI, likely means that workers’ compensation rates will have to continue to increase.
As Arizona’s largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance, SCF Arizona is concerned about the trend and what the statistics are doing to employers’ workers’ comp costs.