What is Self-Insurance? - VCGSIA

Workers’ Compensation Group Self-Insurance is a unique alternative to traditional insurance.

Members in a self-insured group pool their premiums with like-minded businesses to share the risk and reduce overall exposure. In doing so, expenses are minimized, losses are shared, safety programs become a top priority and, locally managed and administered claims handling give employers greater control that result in substantial savings.

Protect your employees and your profit.

Like traditional insurance, premiums for self-insurance are based on payroll and experience. Those dollars are then invested until needed to pay claims and other costs after which the surplus may become available for return based on shared and individual member loss experience. Unlike regular premiums paid for traditional insurance, the contributions made to the Group yield a return for its member investors.

History of Group Self-Insurance Associations in Virginia

Highly regulated by the Bureau of Insurance through routine audits and annual reporting, Group Self-Insurance was created to provide a strong and stable option for workers’ compensation coverage.

In 1978, the Virginia General Assembly formed a legislative committee to study the problem of high Workers’ Compensation premiums for employers and to determine what other states may be doing to combat this problem. The result of the study was legislation enacted in 1979 by the Virginia General Assembly to allow the formation of Workers’ Compensation Self-Insurance Funds referred to as Group Self-Insurance Associations (GSIAs).

Regulatory and Informational Resources

The following sources provide information on workers’ compensation insurance.