Compsource In Oklahoma
The carrier Compsource in Oklahoma may change to a private company. I have been traveling in Oklahoma over the last few days. One of the hot news items is that Compsource is looking to go private. Compsource is a quasi-governmental insurer of last resort for Workers Compensation for companies operating in only Oklahoma. They recently allowed companies with multi-state operations to be insured by Compsource.
As with SCIF in California, the sale of or conversion to a private company caused a great deal of confusion. For instance – are the employees of SCIF and Compsource actually state employees? SCIF in California was instructed to furlough employees, but a court decision said that could not be done with SCIF. Does the state actually have the right to sell off or convert the companies? There are many other states that are having to address these problems. It often seems that these quasi-governmental insurances are public or private as to which designation gives them the largest benefit. I cannot blame them as the governments look to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.
Removing Compsource as the insurer of last resort would be a mistake. The Workers Comp insurance rates in Oklahoma have long been stabilized by Compsource. The cost of business would increase dramatically if Compsource was disbanded, sold, or absorbed by another carrier. As I write this, I just read in the local newspaper that the whole Compsource mess is going to a hearing to have a judge rule on the future of Compsource.
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