Dear WCAN Member,

Each year, the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation publishes a comprehensive report on California’s system for providing medical treatment, cash payments and other benefits to the state's injured workers. In this month’s WCAN newsletter, we highlight 10 key statistics from the recently-published 2011 Annual Report.

California's Workers’ Comp System: By the Numbers

  • California’s workers’ compensation system covered 14.4 million workers in 2009, a 6% decline from the 15.4 million workers covered in 2007.

  • Overall costs of California’s workers’ compensation system increased from $13.3 billion in 2009 to $14.8 billion in 2010 – an increase of 11%.

  • Employers paid, on average, a rate of $2.32 per $100 of payroll for workers’ compensation insurance coverage in 2011, an increase of 7% over 2008.

  • The average cost per workers’ compensation indemnity claim in 2010 was $65,495, a 42% increase since 2005.

  • Indemnity (cash) benefits grew to $4.2 billion in 2010, which is more than $100 million over the amount paid in 2009.

  • Medical benefits grew to $6.5 billion in 2010, which is $372 million over the amount paid in 2009 and approximately $1 billion more than medical benefits paid in 2006.

  • Pharmaceutical costs in the state’s workers’ compensation system increased 9% from 2009 to 2010.

  • Since 1998, medical costs in California’s workers’ compensation system have increased 91 percent, much higher than the overall rate of medical inflation (see chart page 88).

  • The state’s workers’ compensation system saw a 46% increase in the number of filed liens from 2009 to 2010, with more than 357,000 filed in 2010. See a special report on liens here.

  • The number of disputed cases filed with the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) increased to almost 150,000, an increase of 28,000 disputed cases in the last two years.

Please contact us with any questions or comments at [email protected].