MISSOURI'S INSURANCE DEPARTMENT MAY DUMP NCII

Since 1926 the state of Missouri has used the National Council on Compensation Insurance to recommend premiums and classifications for companies in the state's assigned risk pool for workers' compensation.

NCCI is an insurance industry rating consortium based in Florida, which is used by 30 states to set its workers' comp rates. Ten other states use the company for some information.

But now the Missouri Department of Insurance is reviewing bids it received recently for a new administrator of the assigned risk pool.

Randy McConnell, from the department, said this week that bids are being reviewed from about seven companies, including NCCI. Within the next few weeks, Department Director Jay Angoff will decide to award a contract or to possibly re-bid, McConnell said.

McConnell said the current system is flawed because there is no incentive for companies who operate efficiently, contain costs, and limit injuries.

Under the current system, the risk and inefficiencies in the system are shared by all companies in the pool. McConnell said Angoff hopes to select an administrator that will shift the risk back to the private insurance companies.

When rates started climbing dramatically in the late 1980s, business leaders and state lawmakers became concerned and started looking at changes in the law. Legislation passed in 1993 de-regulated the regular commercial insurance market for workers' comp.

Rep. Dennis Ziegenhorn, D-Sikeston, chairman of the House Insurance Committee, has been a longtime foe of NCCI and believes replacing the group is long overdue.

Ziegenhorn said officials of NCCI could never satisfactorily answer questions raised by his committee and were nothing more than "a bunch of jerks."

He complained that NCCI is making too much money and is not responsive to Missouri companies that want to appeal changes in their rating classifications.

"We definitely need to get rid of NCCI," said Ziegenhorn. "They have not been cooperative and I think we can do this a lot more efficiently."

Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said he is pleased the department is considering other alternatives.

"I applaud looking at this move. We should not be captive of any one rating organization," said Kinder. "I never knew whether NCCI was cause or affect. They were an easy target to lash out at and as a result took a lot of slings and arrows."