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Claim Counts Are Down But Losses Are Up for California Workers' Comp Private Self-Insureds

Oakland, CA – California’s private self-insured employers reported 7,026 fewer workers’ compensation claims in 2024 than in 2023 (-7.4%), pushing private self-insured claim frequency to a 4-year low, but for the second year in a row the average paid and incurred losses on these claims increased, driving total paid and incurred losses higher according to a California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) review of initial data from the state Office of Self-Insurance Plans (OSIP).

The annual summary of private self-insured data posted on OSIP’s website last week, offers an initial snapshot of California private, self-insured claims experience for cases reported in 2024, noting the number of covered employees, medical-only and indemnity claim counts, and total paid and incurred losses on those claims through the end of the year. The 2024 summary shows the experience of private self-insured employers who covered 2.25 million California employees last year (down from 2.34 million in the 2023 first report) and who reported 87,360 claims in 2023, down from 94,386 claims in the 2023 initial report.

According to the latest summary, private self-insured employers reported 45,170 medical-only claims in 2024 (down 7.1% from 48,404 in 2023, the first full year following pandemic), though that was still 3.2% above the 43,779 med-only claims noted in 2020, when med-only claim volume plummeted during the brief, pandemic-driven recession. At the same time, the number of private self-insured indemnity claims, which spiked during the pandemic due to the flood of COVID-19 lost-time claims then fell 13.0% as COVID claim volume dropped in 2023, fell for the second year in a row, declining by 8.2% to 42,190 claims in 2024. The 2024 claim count translates to an overall frequency rate of 3.88 claims (2.01 med-only and 1.87 indemnity) per 100 private self-insured employees, down from an overall rate of 4.03 in 2023 (2.07 med-only and 1.96 indemnity), marking the second consecutive year-over-year decline in private self-insured claim frequency, and pushing the overall rate to the lowest level since 2020.    

Despite decreasing claim volume and claim frequency, private self-insured’s first report total paid and incurred losses both increased for the second year in a row last year. Paid losses on the 2024 private self-insured claims through the end of the year totaled $353.6 million, up 3.9% from the first report total for 2023, as total paid medical increased by $10.2 million (6.1%) to $177.6 million, and total paid indemnity (primarily temporary disability payments) increased by $3.2 million (1.9%) to $176.0 million. First report total incurred losses (paid benefits plus reserves for future payments) on 2024 private self-insured claims rose to $934.3 million, up $30.6 million, or 3.5% from the 2023 total, as first report incurred medical increased by $39.8 million (7.9%) to $542.3 million and total incurred indemnity increased by $30.6 million (8.5%) to $392.0 million. Even though there were 7,026 fewer private self-insured claims in 2024 than in 2023 (including 3,792 fewer indemnity claims) the growth in private self-insureds’ total paid and incurred losses in 2024 can be traced to the growth in average paid and incurred losses at the first report, as average paid losses per claim rose 12.3% to $4,047 while average incurred losses rose 16.8% to $10,695.

OSIP’s summary of private self-insured’s calendar year 2024 data, follows the December 2024 release of public self-insured claims data for fiscal year 2023/2024. OSIP private and public self-insured claim summaries from the past 20 years are posted at http://www.dir.ca.gov/SIP/StatewideTotals.html. CWCI members and subscribers may log on to the Communications section of the CWCI website www.cwci.org to view a summary Bulletin with more details, analyses, and graphics.

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