Published: June 30, 2008 06:26 pm            

Open market — A new day for workers’ compensation

The long process of weaning the state’s once troubled workers’ compensation system away from state government control comes full circle today with the official opening of the workers’ compensation market to competition.

Brickstreet Insurance, which became a company on Jan. 1, 2006, now faces competition from 162 different companies who have filed the necessary paperwork with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner to provide workers’ compensation insurance in West Virginia.

Greg Burton, president and CEO of BrickStreet, views the large number of competing companies as evidence of successes by BrickStreet in the Mountain State since 2006. According to Burton, the large number suggests that those companies looking in from outside the state view it is an attractive market.

According to Burton, BrickStreet is poised and ready for competition.

He said that since 2006, West Virginia has experienced an overall rate decrease of 30 percent, which makes it one of the lowest in the nation. With its new Brickstreet 360 program, the company also has been able to drive down the amount of time it takes for a ruling on a claim after it is received, reduced from a high of a 35-day waiting period now to under five days.

The company also has helped drive down the overall number of claims in the system, from a high of 52,0000 claims in 2003 to 40,500 in 2007.

The journey from government control to open market competition has been a long and bumpy road for West Virginia. The government-operated system emerged from the brink of bankruptcy just a few years ago to one that is now ready to embrace open market competition. BrickStreet itself will complete its transition to a for-profit company on Jan. 1, 2009.

For many years, the Daily Telegraph led a determined crusade for an overhaul of the troubled system, and three years ago, lawmakers listened. The changes we are seeing today are a positive and represent significant progress for West Virginia and its workers compensation system.

Today, the workers’ compensation market is officially open for competition. There are 162 different companies now offering workers’ compensation insurance in West Virginia. Competition should help drive down prices and drive up customer service.

A new day has dawned for West Virginia’s workers’ compensation system. We have come a long way in two short years in reshaping and resurrecting a government controlled system once on the brink of bankruptcy.

Today, we take another giant step forward. Let the competition begin.

        

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