We promised to keep you informed on the status of 2018 and 2019 policy year refunds from BWC’s Group Retro program.  As it stands, no employers enrolled during those years will be receiving any refunds. Typically, in the fall of 2021 Group Retro participants should be receiving your first refund from the 2019 policy year and your second refund from the 2018 year. It’s important to understand that if these refunds are normally included in your budgeting process for the coming year, you should not factor that in. For more info on why BWC chose not to release these funds, and what Spooner is doing to help Ohio employers, check out our June blog entry on these missing Group Retro Refunds. If your company was enrolled in Group Retro for the 2020 year, your first refund will be paid out in the fall of 2022. 

Since the 2020 policy year recently ended, we also have an updated outlook on those returns. Out of the 45 total Private Employer Group Retro pools in Ohio, data from BWC shows that 31 of them will have an assessment for their first year (due in fall 2022). This means that companies in that pool will be billed by BWC for a portion of 2020 premiums instead of receiving a refund. This is largely due to BWC moving to a system called ACES to determine reserves on claims as of July 1, 2020. We believe BWC is open to discussing changes to some of the variables used to calculate refunds in response to the impact ACES is having on 2020 Group Retro performance.  Spooner has offered suggestions to the BWC and will continue to work on this important issue with BWC leadership in order to restore group retro refunds for Ohio employers. 

To find out if your policy will be assessed and how much you may owe, complete this form and one of our sales staff will reach out to schedule a time to review the information. With TPAs currently churning out quotes for 2022 programs, we encourage you to be skeptical toward Group Retro offers promising upwards of 50% returns. While Group Retro is still a good fit for some companies, the days of high returns may be behind us until a change is made with the reserves system. Your TPA should be able to break down the savings advantages between Group Rating and Group Retro if you’re offered both. If you’re only eligible for Group Retro and don’t like the direction it’s taken recently – we welcome you to see how we’ve modernized the self-insured PEO space to make it work for you.