Pinnacol Assurance, the state’s largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance, will return a $57 million dividend to Colorado employers next month.
“It came down to the claims costs and the safety records of our customers,” said Ken Ross, president and chief executive of Pinnacol.
Although health care costs are rising, fewer workers are suffering injuries, he said. When injuries occur, they are less severe, he said.
About 57,000 businesses will receive a check, covering 93 percent of Pinnacol’s customer base. Employers with the poorest safety records won’t share in the payout.
The checks will average about $1,000 per customer. They follow a $55 million dividend Pinnacol paid last year, its first since 1982.
“If I had control of the money I would say plow it back into the company and provide the safety programs,” Ross said.
Julie Mackey, owner of Littleton-based ServiceMaster of Arapahoe/Douglas County, plans to reinvest any check she receives.
“I will put it back into the company to buy more equipment,” Mackey said. She used last year’s check to buy equipment to dry hardwood floors.
Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, argues that surpluses should go to improve the benefits workers receive or to reduce the premiums that employers pay.
“This money should be channeled into improving benefits and medical care standards for workers,” Carroll said.
Colorado offers some of the weakest medical treatment and benefit packages in the country, Carroll said.
Carroll was unsuccessful in the past two years with legislation she sponsored that would give injured workers more say in their choice of physicians.
Ross said Pinnacol has consistently reduced premiums, including an average 7 percent reduction in January.
Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-820-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com.
