New Ohio BWC Chief to Propose Work Comp Benefit Reductions?
Governor-elect Kasich's appointee to lead the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation may consider worker's compensation benefit reductions for injured workers and allowing private worker's comp insurers to compete with the BWC to reduce costs for Ohio employers.
January 01, 2011
Incoming Governor-Elect Kasich has appointed state senator Steve Buehrer (R-Delta) to head the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation (BWC) after Administrator Marsha Ryan submitted her resignation following the 2010 mid-term elections. Ryan was appointed by out-going Governor Ted Strickland in 2007 to head the BWC and will leave her post in early January, 2011. Ryan has led several high-profile reforms of the Ohio BWC that have resulted in drastically reduced base rates for public and private sector employer premiums as well as bringing "actuarial soundness" to the BWC.The Ohio BWC administers 1.2 million work comp claims annually and covers worker's compensation insurance for over 260,000 Ohio employers, according to a recent BWC press release. The BWC has 2,200 employees and reported $20.4 billion in assets at the end of the third quarter in 2010.
Sen. Buehrer does have previous work experience with the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation. He was an HR executive there in the late 1990s.
Buehrer's BWC Appointment Raises Possibility of Reduced Work Comp Benefits
In the past, Sen. Buehrer has publicly mused about the amount of worker's compensation benefits that injured Ohio workers receive. He indicated that he would "scrutinize" the current benefit amounts that injured workers receive.
A Competitive Worker's Compensation Task Force was commissioned to investigate ways to make the Ohio BWC system more competitive. Buehrer noted that the task force was supposed to come up with at least three methods to introduce private competition into the system -- that is, private insurers would be allowed to compete with the Ohio BWC to provide work comp coverage to Ohio employers.
While Buehrer has not voiced complete support for the idea of privatizing the Ohio worker's compensation system, he appears likely to look at cost reductions before implementing any recommendations by the task force. The task force is set to deliver its recommendation in June 2011.
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