Medicare Set Aside Claim Counts
I was reading a few articles this week on the rise of Workers Comp claim counts. I was astonished at the number of open Workers Compensation claims. Are some TPA’s, employers and insurance carriers deciding to leave their clams open for a longer period of time, if not indefinitely?
I thought I would research the numbers further, using public information rating agency data. A report by NCCI dated 02/12/11 reported that the TTD period is presently lengthening between 2006 and 2009 due to a 12.3% increase during that time period. This could have counted for the increase in the number of open claims overall. However, TTD is not necessarily adding to the claim counts. TTD, by definition, is a temporary benefit figure.
NCCI has also said that the average cost for the medical benefits on lost time claims had increased from $23,000 to $28,000 in the aforementioned time period. This is an overall increase of 21.7% for all four years combined.
The number of Workers Comp claims likely increased by 3% nationwide in 2010, but the number of claims decreased over 2006 – 2009 by 16.2%. In a nutshell claims decreased by 16.2% cumulatively however the medical benefits per claim increased by 21.7% over the same time period. Those are very eye-opening numbers.
Does this mean MSA’s are changing the Workers Comp landscape? I will cover that next time.
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