Bad News
NCCI President and CEO Steve Klingel opened the symposium with an acknowledgment of the "trying year in 2009," and dire predictions at least for the short term. "A series of unknown factors -- from the pace of economic recovery to the long-term impact of the new federal health-care law, among others -- leave the line in a precarious position and facing a host of challenges moving into 2010," he warned.
As did many at the symposium, Klingel spoke about federal health-care reform and how it may impact workers' compensation, specifically mentioning the Federal Black Lung benefits included in the legislation. "The Senate inserted a section into the bill that modifies eligibility criterion for Federal Black Lung benefits for miners and survivors retroactively to claims filed after Jan. 1, 2005," Klingel said. "These changes will likely increase disease loadings for coal mine exposure, and increase reserves for occupational disease in the various pools that have significant exposure to black lung." A major problem for insurers -- no premiums were collected to cover the additional exposure.
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