In 2007 and again in 2017, New York enacted legislation that limited benefits for injured workers. It was understood that some of these legislative changes would impact worker benefits and employer costs many years down the road.
On December 4, 2023 Grey & Grey released a White Paper outlining the huge employer savings and massive insurer profits that have resulted from the 2007 and 2017 legislation. Key findings include:
Employer costs have dropped 45% since 2017
Overall employer savings are more than $2.8 billion
Insurer profits have averaged over $1 billion per year since 2017
Total insurer profits may be as high as $7 billion
Taken together employer savings and insurer profits are nearly $10 billion
The White Paper argues that these findings represent a transfer of billions of dollars from injured workers to employers and insurers, and suggests that a new round of legislative reforms is needed in order to rebalance the workers’ compensation system.
Read the full document here.