Earlier this month, the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) released its annual report, Workers’ Compensation: Benefits, Coverage, and Costs. The report has a two-year lag, so the data is from 2010. It shows that in 2010, Washington’s workers’ compensation benefits per covered worker were still the highest in the nation, at $865.67. Alaska was second ($740.22), followed by California ($663.08). West Virginia, which was in second place for 2009, dropped to seventh in 2010. (Until 2008, West Virginia had an exclusive state fund, like Washington; it continued to pay benefits on old policies in 2010, but it no longer sells new ones.)

When benefits are considered as a percent of covered wages, Washington ranks second (1.80 percent), behind Montana (1.95 percent) and followed by Oklahoma (1.66 percent). By this measure, West Virginia dropped from first in 2009 to sixth in 2010.

For the first time, the report includes a state-by-state look at workers’ compensation costs to employers. By NASI’s reckoning, Washington had the 13th highest employer costs per $100 of payroll in 2010. NASI urges “extreme caution” when comparing costs across states for a number of reasons.

As the report notes, “several studies . . . demonstrate that the level of statutory benefits is a major determinant of the costs of workers’ compensation in a state.” Indeed, to quote a footnote in the report, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”