Rare is the moment when Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has the opportunity to hand down the largest workers' compensation rate decrease in the state's history while getting high marks for showing an admirable measure of restraint. But that was precisely the position McCarty found himself in as he signed off on a statewide average 18.4 percent rate cut, which fell close to the mark set by the National Council on Compensation Insurance that had recommended a 16.5 percent rate decrease. In fact, the commissioner publicly endorsed NCCI's findings and methodology, a rare event considering the long history of rate disputes in past years.

“The extra reduction in rates will mean a significant amount of added savings to be passed on to Florida's employers,” said McCarty as he handed down his decision. “The National Council on Compensation Insurance has recognized that the cost of doing business in Florida has become less expensive and has filed appropriate rates to reflect those savings.”

Just how impressive has been the market's performance since the enactment of 2003 reforms? Consider this: McCarty's decision means that employers will see more than $700 million in total savings when the new rates take effect in January, and rates will have been cut by more than 50 percent since 2003. When the reforms took effect, McCarty ordered an immediate 14 percent across-the-board rate cut that was based on NCCI's estimate of the savings that would be derived from the law changes. That decrease was quickly followed by a statewide average 5.1 percent rate cut in 2005, which was followed by a 13.5 percent reduction in 2006, and a further 13.5 percent cut in 2007.