Rhode Island Insurer Pulls Out

Rhode Island’s largest writer of workers’ compensation insurance announced Tuesday that it was pulling out of the state because rates don’t come close to covering the costs of doing business.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. said it would discontinue its insurance coverage by Dec. 31, leaving hundreds of employers and thousands of workers stranded without coverage.

The company had 28.2% of all the workers’ compensation policies written in Rhode Island during 1990, according to the insurance information service A. M. Best. Aetna was the next largest, with 21% of the market.

“Rhode Island is the most severe example of a problem facing workers’ compensation insurers across the country today,” said Gary L. Countryman, the chairman, president and chief executive of Liberty Mutual.