For California employers, premium rates for workers' comp coverage are going up. Yet in most other states, employers are watching their comp rates decrease. Why?

Nationwide, employers are paying less and less to cover their injured employees. Yet, in California, globetrotting Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, at the behest of the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB), instituted an 8.7% hike in September 2025.

The WCIRB is insurer-led and insurer-controlled, and operates in the interest of insurers. Yet somehow, California allows this undeniably partial entity to determine premium rates based on unverifiable data directly from its insurer members, the accuracy of which even the WCIRB itself disclaims.

This is the state of workers' comp under Governor Gavin Newsom: Premium rates are climbing while regulatory accountability is plummeting.

In this new series, daisyNews will highlight how rates are dropping nationwide and remind California employers of the dysfunction occurring on Newsom’s watch. Today, we turn to Florida, where falling premiums and rising provider reimbursements should give California employers pause.

Florida Comp Rates to Decrease in 2026

Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky approved a 6.9% drop in employers’ rates for workers’ comp policies, effective January 1, 2026.

Unlike Mr. Lara, Mr. Yaworksy gets his guidance from the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), which recommended the decrease in a report and at a public hearing. In an Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) release, Yaworsky stated:

“This rate decrease directly translates to reduced operating costs for businesses, encouraging investment and growth throughout Florida's economy.”

2026 will be the ninth consecutive year that the OIR has dropped Florida employers’ workers’ comp rates.

At the same time, Florida significantly raised reimbursement rates for workers’ comp providers this year, demonstrating that it’s possible to pay appropriately for injured workers’ treatment without overburdening employers.

Meanwhile, in Gavin Newsom’s California…

Based on WCIRB reports, California employers are paying 8.7% more for comp coverage.

Yet, even as employers pump more of their money into the system, California doctors are paid relatively little to treat injured workers, compared to other fee-schedule states.

The table below, from a recent Workers’ Compensation Research Institute report, shows that wherever California employers’ premium dollars go, they’re largely not going toward the cost of injured workers’ medical care.

Florida, despite decreasing employers’ comp coverage rates, still pays its workers’ comp physicians significantly more as a percentage of Medicare rates than California does.

Bear in mind: the table above reflects reimbursement rates according to state fee schedules. In reality, claims administrators often pay California doctors well below fee schedule rates, thanks to only nominally regulated Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) discounting.

WCIRB Creates Smokescreen for Insurer Profits

Despite verifiable data on workers’ comp’s stupendous profitability, the WCIRB cries poor on behalf of California insurers.

These are the same insurers that create needless roadblocks to care through the Utilization Review system, driving injured workers to seek attorneys and necessitating costly Medical-Legal disputes.

Conveniently, the WCIRB then miscategorizes administrative expenses (including Medical-Legal disputes) as “medical” costs and, super-conveniently, neglects to factor PPO discounts into its reports, giving the impression that insurers are spending more than they are on workers’ treatment.

Over in reality, a National Association of Insurance Commissioners report shows healthy loss ratios for California insurers, indicating profitability. Topping the list: the State Compensation Insurance Fund (State Fund).

Yes, even State Fund, California’s non-profit insurer of last resort for comp coverage, is making money. Yet, the WCIRB wants employers to shovel more of their revenue into insurers’ coffers.

WCIRB: By Insurers, For Insurers

The WCIRB’s warped view of workers’ comp profitability (and its penchant for recommending rate hikes) should come as no surprise.

This is an insurers’ club, as evidenced by the composition of both its Governing Committee and its Actuarial Committee (which specifically advises the Governing Committee on premium rates).

Workers’ comp is extraordinarily profitable by any measure. In almost every state, insurance authorities are easing the burden of coverage for employers, even as they increase compensation for doctors. Across the US, comp’s profitability is translating into a more equitable system for employers and doctors.

California is being left behind, and it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to see why.

daisyBill sends millions of providers’ bills for injured worker treatment annually, with payment in <10 days on average. Click to learn more:

BILL BETTER: DAISYBILL