Workers’ Comp Coverage Sensibly Expands, But There's a Price Tag

The first nine states to enact workers’ compensation statutes did so in 1911. In the years that have passed, almost all the rest joined suit. Typically, worker compensation claims provide cash benefits, medical care, or both for workers whose injury or illness resulted from their job. The costliest lost-time workers’ compensation claims come from motor-vehicle accidents, burns or slips and falls, according to the National Safety Council.

But over the last several years, U.S. cities have experienced an increasing number of expensive claims, largely driven by first responders for whom definitions of illnesses covered by workers’ comp have been expanding dramatically.

• Publication date: August 2024
• Authors: Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene