Glossary · PA Workers' Comp

Assigned Risk Plan (Pennsylvania Assigned Risk Plan)

A residual market mechanism that provides workers' comp coverage to PA employers who cannot obtain private market insurance, administered through the PCRB.

Definition

Pennsylvania's Assigned Risk Plan is a residual market mechanism that provides workers' compensation coverage to employers who are unable to obtain coverage in the voluntary private market. Risks submitted to the plan are assigned to participating carriers on a rotating basis.

How the Assigned Risk Plan Works and When Employers End Up There

The Assigned Risk Plan (also called the residual market) is distinct from SWIF — it distributes hard-to-place risks among all participating carriers rather than concentrating them in a single state fund.

Employers in the assigned risk plan typically pay higher rates than the voluntary market. Premiums in the residual market may include surcharges reflecting the elevated risk profile of the insured population.

As with SWIF, the goal for employers in the assigned risk plan should be to improve their safety record and claims history over 3–5 years to qualify for voluntary market coverage at competitive rates.