Assigned risk plan

Oregon Workers’ Compensation Insurance Plan (assigned risk plan)

When the Legislature created SAIF in 1965, it provided that, if requested by either SAIF or the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), the insurance commissioner had to promulgate an assigned risk plan to make workers’ compensation insurance available to employers unable to obtain coverage in the voluntary market. The law was amended in 1979 to implement such a plan. In 1980, the commissioner adopted rules constituting the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Insurance Plan and establishing the state’s assigned risk plan.

Several insurers act as service providers. Premium rates paid by assigned risk plan employers for coverage reflect state pure premium rates and an expense-loading factor recommended by NCCI and subject to the commissioner’s approval. The National Workers' Compensation Reinsurance Pool provides reinsurance with the cost borne by all insurers in proportion to their share of all Oregon workers’ compensation premiums written.

The following table provides some information about the assigned risk plan.

Assigned risk plan

Data source: Residual Market Management Summary produced by NCCI.

In 2007, the department released a report it completed with technical expertise and guidance from NCCI. The report found the Oregon assigned risk plan was working well and did not need major changes. Recommendations were made in three areas:

• Improve assigned risk plan operations and pricing.
• Help assigned risk plan employers obtain voluntary market coverage where possible.
• Improve incentives and programs to encourage employers to enter the plan.