You’re not alone. Now that BWC is releasing the first Group Retro checks (and a few assessments) for  the 2020  policy year, many Ohio employers are underwhelmed by the results. In the earlier days of Group Retro, it wasn’t unheard of to see refunds over 50%. Spooner certainly had its heyday in the program, with some of our industry groups reaching close to the maximum return of 63%. In the last ten years, we’ve seen several factors begin to chip away at these big returns: increased loss development factors, fewer premium dollars in pools due to Premium Size Factor Reductions, and more recently – the move to a new reserve calculating system called ACES. The first two changes caused average returns to dip into the 40% ranges, but huge reserves from ACES delivered a sucker punch that left only five of the best performing groups with returns over 40%. Five of the hardest-hit pools will receive an assessment, which means paying back anywhere between 15-25% of their 2020 premiums to BWC. All other groups in the middle of the best and worst averaged returns of less than 24%. For some, that’s less than half of their historical performance average.

We’ve been tracking the impact of ACES on Group Retro for a while now, and several TPAs (including Spooner) have voiced their concerns to BWC regarding the dwindling returns. While the complaints were taken under advisement, BWC chose to make such minor changes to the reserve calculations that the 2020 Group Retro outlook remained bleak. There’s been very little talk of this outside of the Spooner newsletters and blog, but it’s unpleasant whether your business saw it coming or not.

Spooner may not be able to fix what’s wrong with Group Retro right now, but we can offer solutions. For businesses that don’t qualify for Group Rating, Group Retro isn’t necessarily your only alternative. We’d be happy to provide a claims review & savings analysis of the other programs available to your business, and help you try to find the right fit. Just fill out our contact form and one of our consultants will be in touch with you right away!