Workers who are at risk of a serious injury in Minnesota at work sometimes buy worker’s compensation insurance. This insurance is designed to provide them with the money they need to pay for medical care, compensate for lost wages and cover funeral expenses in the event of a worker’s death.
Comp Insurance
Worker’s compensation insurance provides support in cases where a worker may have to miss a significant amount of time from work while they recover from their injury. Traditional health insurance coverage may cover the medical costs, depending on the plan, but it never covers the lost income from not working, and poor health insurance often leaves the worker to pay substantial medical bills. The state of Minnesota mandates that employers make worker’s comp insurance available to workers.
Costs of Insurance
The cost of a workers’ compensation policy will depend on the state and the type of work. There can be a large difference between an office job with low risk and a construction job with high risk. The office worker might only cost $50 a year to insure while the construction worker may cost thousands.
Higher base salaries also mean larger insurance premiums since the amount of lost salary that needs to be replaced is higher. Differences in state regulations, risk profiles and operational costs determine how much the cost of worker’s comp insurance changes across state lines. Similarly, state laws determine things like compensation rates and covered events.
Employers can vary greatly in how much they need to pay in worker’s comp insurance, and the biggest factors are the risk level of the work and the employee’s salary.
