Term Of The Day – Monopolistic State Funds
Monopolistic state funds used to be rather numerous in the United States. The number of monopolistic carriers have dwindled due to states such as Nevada and West Virginia converting to a free market system. The law requires that companies in that state purchase workers compensation coverage from the government. Private insurers cannot write policies in these states.

North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, and Wyoming are the last of this type of fund in existence. Monopolistic state funds are not to be confused with competitive state funds such as SCIF in CA.
At one time, I had thought that the four aforementioned states would covert to an open market system. Update – as of 2018, these four monopolistic states are status quo.
Update –
Hawaii at one time, was going to join these four states. This did not occur yet but could possibly happen in the future. The Aloha State became very concerned that the injured employees were not receiving the proper medical treatment and other benefits timely.
I had predicted that Ohio would convert to an open market system due to their neighbor West Virginia‘s success. Ohio has not considered becoming monopolistic.
Also Read: Monopolistic Workers Comp States Examined Further
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