Want to understand the debate over Initiative 1082, the proposal to allow private insurers into Washington's workers' compensation market?
Kris Tefft, AWB's general counsel and government affairs director for employment law, was a guest last week on The Conversation, the KUOW radio program hosted by Ross Reynolds.
He outlined the reasons for supporting the measure, starting with the fact that the current state-run monopoly is in trouble.
"For at least the better part of a decade, perhaps even for a generation, that system has begun to erode at its foundation," Tefft said. "We're now at the point in 2010 where our state-run system is paying out about $1.67 in benefits and administrative expenses for every dollar in premiums that it brings in."
As a consequence, workers' comp rates are going up.
The system, Tefft said, "is charging premiums that are increasing on an alarming upward trend, but even those premiums ... are not sufficient to break even for the cost of providing that insurance."
State Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, provided the counterpoint, arguing against the initiative.
Press play below to listen to the full program (if your browser does not show a link, you can download the program here.)
