The amount paid out for medical payments, per claim, under workers’ compensation decreased by five per cent in Florida for 2020. That bucked a recent trend that had seen costs rising every year, and experts are pointing at COVID as the likely culprit.
The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) released new data that showed medical payments per claim had been rising in the years before the pandemic. Between 2015 and 2019, payments rose four to five per cent per year.
“The recent decreases in medical payments per claim in Florida and many other states reflect some impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as postponed or avoided medical care due to concerns about COVID-19, temporary suspensions of non-emergency surgeries during the early months of the pandemic and declined usage of hospital care because of limitations to conserve hospital capacity,” said Ramona Tanabe, executive vice-president and counsel for WCRI.