The Retrospective Rating Plan for Workmen's Compensation Risks

Surprising as it may seem to many, the idea of applying the retrospective rating principle to workmen's compensation risks dates back to the early history of workmen's compensation insurance. In the initial stages of development of rating technique there was considerable argument as to whether experience rating should apply on a prospective or retrospective basis. Thus, we find that in 1916, twenty years prior to the adoption of the Retrospective Rating Plan for application to compensation risks in Massachusetts, this subject was receiving the attention of our Society.