State Sends Out Record Insurance Fund Dividend

State businesses will share in a record $53.8 million dividend from the State Insurance Fund.

Gov. Phil Batt announced the refunds on Thursday and said the record dividend was due in part to employers doing a good job of avoiding employee injuries.

Each year, the State Insurance Fund makes a refund to 20,000 companies who insure workers through the state. The last time the fund didn’t declare a dividend was 1969. Since 1990, the dividends have been more than $200 million.

If the state sends out $53.8 million to 20,377 policyholders, that would be an average of $2,640 each.

Batt announced earlier that overall worker’s compensation premiums would decline 5.5 percent for 1997. That means in three years, the insurance premium rate is down more than 19 percent.

“This record dividend and another year of declining rates can be attributed to the good job Idaho employers and workers are doing in preventing work-related injuries,” Batt said at a news conference announcing the refund.