Key findings
Since 2003, workers’ compensation insurance rates decreased nearly 72 percent for Texas employers. The average premium per $100 of payroll declined from $2.32 per $100 of payroll in policy year 2003 to $.63 per $100 of payroll in policy year 2018 – a 73 percent reduction.
Employer subscription rates since 2016 remain some of the highest since the first employer survey in 1993. 71 percent of year-round private sector employers and 81 percent of private sector employees have workers’ compensation coverage in 2020.
Texas’ cost per claim with 12 months maturity is about 24 percent less than the median cost of the 18 states analyzed. In 2001, Texas had the highest medical costs per claim among these states.
In 2020, a majority of injured employees report that the medical care for their work-related injury was as good or better than their routine medical care.
Today on average, injured employees are waiting half as long to get their first non-emergency medical visit as they did in 2011.
A higher percentage of injured employees receiving income benefits went back to work within six months in 2017 (83 percent), compared to those in 2007 (78 percent).
Since 2005, medical fee disputes decreased about 65 percent, preauthorization and concurrent review disputes decreased about 20 percent, and retrospective medical necessity disputes have essentially disappeared in the system.
