Welcome to the Insurance Council of Texas 2021 Texas Workers’ Compensation Market Annual Report. We provide this annual report as a benefit to our members who write workers’ compensation or are among the various workers’ compensation entities that support the Texas market. This report includes the opinions of ICT, information and updates from the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC), and additional commentary that gives an overview of the state of the workers’ compensation market in Texas.
Some of the topics we cover in this year’s report include:
- The Impacts of COVID-19 on the workers’ compensation system
- 2021 regulatory activities and a look ahead to 2022
- Legal and litigation issues that impacted the workers compensation system in Texas
- Legislative actions and enforcement/compliance decisions
Additionally, the workers’ compensation system had a change in leadership in 2021. On Sept. 7, 2021, Governor Abbott announced that Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Cassie Brown had been appointed as Commissioner of Insurance effective immediately. Commissioner Brown served as Workers’ Compensation Commissioner since 2018. On behalf of our members, we appreciated her leadership for the Texas workers’ compensation system. As we were preparing this report, the Governor has not announced a new commissioner of workers’ compensation.
In 2021, long-time workers’ compensation expert and most recently DWC special deputy, Amy Lee retired after many years in public service. In addition, deputy commissioner for hearings, Kerry Sullivan, retired, as did long-time commissioner executive assistant Idalia Salazar. The Insurance Council of Texas wishes them all well in retirement and we thank them for their public service.
We appreciate the opportunity to be able to provide you with this information and welcome any feedback on how we can make this information more useful for you and others in your company.
As always, you can find additional information on workers’ compensation at our website www.insurancecouncil.org. If you have specific questions about workers’ compensation issues or need ICT’s assistance on a matter, please contact Angie Cervantes, Government and Legislative Affairs Manager at acervantes@insurancecouncil.org.
It is our pleasure to serve as your Texas association.
Albert Betts, Jr.