The impact of US health care reform on Workers’ Compensation and other Casualty lines

The reform is not specifically directed at the Workers’ Compensation system or the tort liability system. Some provisions regulate health insurer practices that are not applicable to Workers’ Compensation medical and others create mechanisms to expand the insured population. However, the legislation may have an indirect effect on Workers’ Compensation medical costs and on the cost structures underlying the medical portion of tort liability settlements and judgments. This will depend on the success (or failure) of provisions in the legislation designed to increase the supply of medical providers to meet increasing demand and efforts to bend the cost curve downward. This report examines the principal provisions of the legislation and offers observations on the potential impact on insurers that write Workers’ Compensation and other casualty lines of business.

http://media.swissre.com/documents/Health_Care_Reform_Paper_11-9-10.pdf