Hartford to Refund Some Florida Workers’ Compensation Payments

The Hartford Financial Services Group will refund or credit $48.2 million to Florida employers for “excess profit” earned on workers’ compensation policies, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced Wednesday, August 12.

But Hartford has done nothing improper, a spokesman for the commissioner said.

Florida maintains a cap on the profit workers’ compensation insurers can reap. Market conditions, meanwhile, sometimes push insurers to exceed that cap, the spokesman said.

In total, insurers have refunded “excess workers’ comp profits” totaling $98.8 million this year, according to the spokesman.

While Hartford’s share of “excess profit” is more than double that of any other insurer in Florida, there are nine Hartford units writing workers’ comp insurance in the state, the spokesman said. The $48 million is the combined amount they all must refund.

The refunds are for accident years 2004, 2005 and 2006, and Hartford must provide them within 60 days.

Filed by Roberto Ceniceros of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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