To order, contact Pioneer Institute Reform of the Massachusetts workers compensation system was undertaken in 1991 in response to soaring costs and widespread dissatisfaction among system participants. While the reform has been largely successful, it is clearly incomplete. Workers, employers, and insurance carriers would benefit from additional systemic changes, including greater incentives for safety investments, a benefit structure that encourages return to work, and insurance rate deregulation.
Workers compensation is the original tort reform of the American legal system.
Unfortunately, the system went awry in the late 1980s and required substantial reform in 1991. This book is a review of the Massachusetts workers compensation system and an evaluation of the 1991 reforms. Discontinuing payments for permanent partial disability when the worker returns to work creates perverse incentives and often does not adequately provide for the truly needy worker. The Massachusetts system for pricing workers compensation insurance is reminiscent of old-fashioned utility regulation. Government-set prices often do not accurately reflect insurer risk.