Summary of the Contents – January/February 2004

Workers’ compensation is only one of a series of programs in the workers’ disability

system that provide cash benefits, medical care, and rehabilitation services to current

or former employees who are disabled. The workers’ compensation program provides

these benefits to employees whose disabilities are caused by work-related injuries or

diseases. Some of the other programs in principle provide benefits to workers regardless

of the source of their disabilities. However, in recent years the Medicare program

has taken aggressive action to ensure that workers’ compensation is the primary source

of medical care for workers disabled by workplace injuries and diseases. Edward

Welch did a masterful job of clarifying the relationships between Medicare and workers’

compensation in the March/April 2003 issue of the Workers’ Compensation Policy

Review. In this issue, Ed provides a helpful and provocative update on this topic.

The employers’ costs of workers’ compensation for employers in the private sector

increased to 2.25 percent of payroll in 2003, continuing a two-year trend of higher costs.

As shown in Figure A (from the article by Burton in this issue), there have been significant

swings in the costs to employers since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began collecting

these data in 1986. Costs increased from that year until they peaked at 2.99 percent

of payroll in 1994. Then costs plummeted to 1.92 percent of payroll in 2001. In this

historical perspective, the recent increase in costs means that employers are still paying

less for workers’ compensation now than in any year in the 1990s.

Information on Workers’ Compensation Policy Review

Workers’ Compensation Policy Review is published six times a year. Requests for a sample copy or for subscription information can be sent by mail to WCPR, 56 Primrose Circle, Princeton, NJ 08540-9416; by FAX to 732-274-0678; or by filling out our online form.