{"id":25449,"date":"2026-10-08T18:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T18:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/?p=888507"},"modified":"2026-10-08T18:00:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T18:00:44","slug":"california-workers-comp-combined-ratio-highest-in-more-than-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2026\/10\/08\/california-workers-comp-combined-ratio-highest-in-more-than-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"California Workers\u2019 Comp Combined Ratio Highest in More Than 20 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/img\/social\/opengraph\/ij-social-default-1200x630.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<ul class=\"nav nav-tabs tabs tabs-entry\">\n<li class=\"active\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/west\/2026\/10\/08\/888507.htm\">Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/west\/2026\/10\/08\/888507.htm?comments\" rel=\"nofollow\">0 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"article-content clearfix\">\n<p>The projected combined ratio for California workers\u2019 compensation insurers reached 127% in 2025, the highest in more than 20 years, a new report shows.<\/p>\n<p>The Workers\u2019 Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California released its latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcirb.com\/research-and-education\/research-studies-and-reports\/wcirb-quarterly-experience-report-june-30-2026?_cldee=GhS78cq0GWrEJvRuMdOLgOb7hdvPzxuUpwfjf1OzXwc7f9T1grV2lORNNcnoSBX7aDLtjxa_73ZNHT-QeNVitQ&amp;recipientid=contact-4c64630b5329ef11840a0022483220db-b0188b81f2f24d8b855e351a8118c4ca&amp;utm_source=ClickDimensions&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=QER2026Q2%202026&amp;esid=f648f51b-24c1-f111-aaaf-70a8a544bc21\">Quarterly Experience Report<\/a>, which delves into insurer experience through June 30.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"79\" data-revive-topics=\"workers-comp\" data-revive-companies data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>The report shows combined ratios exceeded 110% for five consecutive years, reflecting a trend of higher claim frequency and increasing loss and loss adjustment expense costs.<\/p>\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/west\/2026\/09\/02\/883624.htm\">Report: Medical Service Costs in California Comp Rising With Payments, Utilization<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Written premium in the first six months of 2026 was 5% higher than during the same period in 2025. The estimated average charged rate for the first half of 2026 was $1.64 per $100 of payroll, slightly higher than the $1.63 recorded in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara in July approved an average 8.7% increase in advisory pure premium rates effective Sept. 1, 2025, and a 6.6% increase effective Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The projected loss and allocated loss adjustment expense ratio for accident year 2025 was 95%, similar to the 94% recorded in 2024. Recent increases have been associated with higher average medical and allocated loss adjustment expense costs, along with increasing indemnity claim frequency, particularly for cumulative trauma claims.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/magazines\/mag-features\/2026\/08\/17\/881404.htm\">WCIRB: California Comp Premium Leveled off, But CT Claims Frequency Rose<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext-2\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"162\" data-revive-topics=\"workers-comp\" data-revive-companies data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>Indemnity claim frequency continued to rise in the first half of the year to 3.6%. Cumulative trauma claims continued to be a driver of frequency increases since 2022. These claims grew from roughly 18% of indemnity claims in 2022 to more than 25%, according to the WCIRB.<\/p>\n<p>Projected total loss and allocated loss adjustment expense severity for 2025 was $81,460 per indemnity claim. That was unchanged from 2024 but up more than 30% from 2016. The report notes that recent severity figures may be understated because cumulative trauma claims often develop more slowly, with roughly 25% showing no medical payments at 18 months.<\/p>\n<p>Allocated loss adjustment expense severity, excluding medical cost containment program costs, rose 11% in 2025 to $13,860 per indemnity claim. The category has also increased each year since 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Medical-legal costs per claim have risen sharply since 2022, reflecting increased use of medical-legal services and higher average payments per service. Increases have been more pronounced in Southern California.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagtag\"> <span class=\"tagtag\">Topics<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/location\/california\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">California<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/workers-comp\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Workers&#8217; Compensation<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll\" data-post=\"888507\">\n<div class=\"article-poll-vote\">\n<p>Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-no\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-yes\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! <span class=\"percent\"><\/span>% of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-more-articles\">\n<p class=\"thank-you-text\">Here are more articles you may enjoy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"subscribe-banner subscribe-banner-in-content-2\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h4>Interested in <em>Workers Comp<\/em>?<\/h4>\n<p>Get automatic alerts for this topic.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article 0 Comments The projected combined ratio for California workers\u2019 compensation insurers reached 127% in 2025, the highest in more than 20 years, a new report shows. The Workers\u2019 Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[275,1,9,124],"class_list":["post-25449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-claims","tag-news","tag-west-news","tag-workers-compensation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/california-workers-comp-combined-ratio-highest-in-more-than-20-years.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}