Older workers generate higher-cost workers' comp medical and indemnity payments

It’s not that they have that much higher an injury rate than younger workers, but older workers’ claims do end up costing more.

That’s according to a study in the latest FlashReport from the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Workers Compensation Research Institute, which examined how age affects claim costs, cost components and worker outcomes.

Related: The aging workforce and workers’ compensation

The WCRI study found that while workers 19 and younger do have the highest injury rates (workers aged 55 to 65 come next), older workers have the highest rate of fatalities. Business Insurance reports that their types of injuries differ, too, with younger workers more likely to be cut or struck by objects, while older workers are more likely to fall or experience fractures.

Older workers are also more likely to lose more time at work from injuries. Workers aged 15 to 19 have a slightly more than 10 percent chance of a week of lost time, while workers 65 and older have a 31 percent chance of losing that much time.

Per claim, disability payments rise up to age 64, with permanent partial disability/lump sum payments averaging a little more than $10,000 per claim for younger workers. But that total climbs as workers age, reaching an average of nearly $25,000 for workers aged 60 to 64.

Temporary disability also lasts longer, with the average duration of such benefits increasing by age and leveling out for workers at age 45—with an average of 24 weeks of temporary disability payments per claim. That’s up from an average of just 9 weeks for the youngest workers.

Read more: 

• How to keep older workers safe and productive on the job
• Ageism in the workplace: Combating myths about older workers
• 10 workers’ compensation issues to watch in 2019