For readers of Stop Being Frustrated & Overcharged
You found the page that isn't on the menu.
Everything here goes with the book, chapter by chapter. It is only linked from inside the book, so the people reading it are people who bought it.
The big one
The AuditCheck Program
The kit I hand clients before a premium audit. The pre-audit flowchart, the employee-by-class worksheet, the excluded pay items, the payroll summary, and how to calculate a charge for an uninsured sub before the auditor does it for you. Updated October 2026, with this year's officer payroll limits for every state and four years of Pennsylvania construction credit tables.
It was built on Pennsylvania's rules. The worksheets work in any state. For excluded pay outside Pennsylvania, check your own state's manual.
Everything else on this page is open. The two editable kits ask for an email so I can send you updated versions when the rules change.
Current market figures, as of fall 2026
The book gives you the figures as of the day it went to print. These are the ones I keep current here.
- NCCI's national combined ratio was 86 for 2024 and 91 for 2025. Accident year 2025 came in at 102. Calendar year results have now been under 100 for twelve straight years.
- NCCI estimates the industry is holding about $14 billion more in reserves than it needs (2025).
- Medical and indemnity severity are each running about 4 percent a year.
- California's average rate went up 10.4 percent on September 1, 2026, with an accident year combined ratio of 129.
- Missouri rates went up 1.3 percent for 2026. Oregon has proposed a 2.1 percent increase and Washington 4.9 percent for 2027.
- Florida is still getting decreases.
The national market is still profitable for carriers, so most states are flat or down. The states moving up are moving up for their own reasons. Sources are at the bottom of this page.
Chapter 1. How can we reduce our premiums?
- Five Things That Drive Up Workers' Comp Premiums
The cost drivers I see most often, starting with how people are hired and trained.
Chapter 2. The audit and your class codes
- The AuditCheck Program (above)
Build the audit before the auditor does. - Premium Audit Checklist (printable)
Appendix A. Run it on your last three audits to see whether you were overcharged. - Eliminate the Errors and Overcharges
Where the errors and overcharges hide, and how to find them before you pay for them.
Chapters 3 and 4. The experience modifier
- Annual Executive Briefing worksheet (printable)
Your Minimum Mod, Controllable Mod, WorkComp Payback Ratio™ and Actual Losses vs. Expected Losses, year by year. - Annual Executive Briefing spreadsheet (editable)
The same worksheet as an Excel file that does the math, including a WorkComp Payback Ratio™ calculator for any one claim. - Improve Your Risk Profile, Improve Your Bottom Line
How underwriters actually score you, and how to fill in the third line of the Risk Profile formula.
Chapter 5. The doctor and the injured employee
- The Recovery of Injured Workers
What employers need to know about getting an injured employee back. - The Right Prescription for Lowering Workers' Comp Costs
Medical care that gets people back, and the kind that keeps them out. - The Impact of Opioids on Workers' Comp
What a prescription can do to a claim that should have closed in weeks. - Treating Work Comp Claims Like Crime Scenes
The Monday morning back claim, and why the doctor has a reason to call an injury work related.
Chapter 6. Subcontractors
- Install Back-Flow Prevention When Transferring Risk on a Construction Project
My Construction Executive article on contracts, additional insured status and making risk flow downhill.
Chapter 7. The employee who "did something stupid"
- The Importance of Safe Behavior
Behavior-based safety, from my article in EHS Today. - Turning Safety Culture into a Profit Center
What your workers' comp results reveal about how the work actually gets done. - Culture Issues
A good culture is more than being OSHA or HR compliant, and you can't improve what you don't measure.
Chapter 8. Pre-existing injuries and hiring
- Don't Let a Good Hire Go Bad
A claim can start before the employee does.
When a good hire goes bad, the way they were hired and brought on usually failed them first. - Don't Let a Good Employee Go Bad
The first months decide whether a good employee stays one. A mentor is the difference.
Chapter 9. Choosing an agent
- Answers to Get Before You Hire a Broker
The questions from the back of the book, as a printable to take into your next agent meeting.
Chapter 10. Getting the lowest rate
- Improve Your Risk Profile, Improve Your Bottom Line
What the underwriter is really checking, and how to show it before they ask.
Chapter 11. Better ways to insure your business
- Trends in Alternative Risk Financing
Captives, retros and deductibles, and who they fit. - What We Review in a Risk Management and HR Assessment (printable)
Appendix C. What to gather before you talk to anyone, an underwriter, a new agent or me.
Editable
The Annual Executive Briefing spreadsheet
The Chapter 3 worksheet as an Excel file. Type in your premium, your Minimum Mod and your Actual Mod, and it shows what your Controllable Mod costs you this year. The second tab works out the WorkComp Payback Ratio™ on any single claim.
Want a second set of eyes?
Send me three things: your last three years of loss runs, your current mod worksheet, and your last premium audit. (The full list is Appendix C.) I'll tell you what I see, what looks like it is costing you money, and whether it is worth chasing.
Sending them doesn't commit you to anything.
Send me your numbers or email david@davidleng.com
Rather talk first? Pick a 30-minute time on my calendar.
Sources
The links behind the figures in the book and in the market box above. Where a figure came from my own client work, the book says so.
Chapter 1 and the market figures
- NCCI State of the Line, 2026
- Insurance Journal, NCCI 2025 results (May 2026)
- Insurance Journal, California September 2026 rate change
- Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance, 2026 loss costs
- Oregon DCBS, proposed 2027 rates
- Washington L&I, proposed 2027 rates
Chapter 5
- NCCI, workers’ comp vs. group health utilization
- Rising Medical Solutions, Workers’ Compensation Benchmarking Study
- Travelers, 2025 Injury Impact Report
Chapters 6 and 7
- PCRB, Construction Classification Premium Adjustment Program, 2025 analysis
- Pennsylvania L&I, certified safety committee credit
- OSHA, $afety Pays estimator
Chapter 8
- EEOC, disability-related inquiries and medical examinations
- FTC, using consumer reports: what employers need to know
Chapters 9 and 11
Bring this to your group
Most of this book started as a question someone asked me after a talk. If your association, chamber or leadership team keeps asking why their workers' comp costs what it does, see the sessions or email david@davidleng.com.
If your building burned tonight, would your business open again?
That is the question behind Insured to Fail. The rest of the books are on the books page.