unveiled

Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, continuing his assault on spiraling workers’ compensation insurance costs, on Friday announced a three-pronged reform program designed to curb fraudulent and unwarranted claims.

As part of the plan. Garamendi endorsed legislation introduced by Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) that would eliminate a “guaranteed cap” on insurers’ expenses. The bill would give Garamendi greater discretion to reduce workers’ compensation rates for employers.

Garamendi also announced the creation of a new workers’ compensation fraud investigation team and an outreach program to employers to educate them on new insurance fraud laws.

“California businesses are being strangled by exorbitant workers’ compensation insurance premiums,” Garamendi said. “Workers’ compensation costs have gotten out of control, especially in the areas of insurer expenses and fraud.”

Margolin’s bill, introduced in the Legislature on Friday, aims to eliminate the “guaranteed expense cap,” an arbitrary measure of workers’ compensation carrier costs. This cap was one of the primary reasons that Garamendi late last year turned down an 11.9% rate increase request from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, which determines what minimum rates should be for the industry. Garamendi only allowed a 1.2% increase.

The cap allows workers’ compensation carriers to claim that their expenses amount to 32.8% of premiums, no matter what their true expenses are, when they request rate increases. Actual expenses are far lower–about 20% to 25% of premiums, Garamendi said.

“This bill is a way to guarantee that California employers are not charged excessive premiums by workers’ compensation carriers,” Margolin said. “This bill would allow Garamendi to address what an appropriate expense load would be.”

Insurance representatives Friday criticized the proposed expense cap limitations.

“A panel that Garamendi helped form has been studying workers’ compensation rating practices for over a year, and they are set to give their recommendations in March,” said Richard Wiebe, spokesman for the American Insurance Assn. in Sacramento. “Garamendi has apparently decided their recommendations are irrelevant.”

Insurers are more supportive of Garamendi’s efforts to combat fraud. Robert Gore, vice president of the Assn. of California Insurance Cos., noted that the new fraud unit is made possible by a law partially written and supported by the insurance industry.

Garamendi said he was creating a new workers’ compensation fraud investigation unit, funded by legislation that took effect Jan. 1. The law is designed to target doctors, attorneys and medical care workers who encourage the filing of fraudulent workers’ compensation claims.

Under the tough new law, making false statements to support fraudulent workers’ compensation claims is a felony. Convictions can be punished by up to five years in prison and fines equaling twice the fraud.

“The people who are committing workers’ compensation fraud now think they can do it with impunity, but that has changed,” Margolin said. “If you commit workers’ compensation fraud, you go to jail.”

Garamendi also said he plans to step up a public information campaign about the new workers’ compensation fraud law. The campaign will be conducted through partnerships with other state agencies, such as the Employment Development Department and local chambers of commerce.

The 2025 celebrity festive special of Gladiators aired on Christmas day – with two winners crowed after a batch of stars took on the professional athletes – and the daunting travelator

Two celebrities have been crowned winners of the 2025 Christmas special of Gladiators. The festive edition of the revived sports entertainment TV show saw a number of stars take on the titular athletes and race through obstacle courses.

But in the end, only two stars could be crowned the winners of the latest episode of the show. Fitness coach Joe Wicks – who arguably had an advantage when it came to taking on the challenges due to his sporty background – was one winner.

While TV presenter and podcaster Vogue Williams proved her worth in the arena and was also found to be a champion. The pair succeeded after facing off against other celebrities, Made in Chelsea star Sam Thompson and boxing champ Nicola Adams.

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After winning, Joe, 40, explained that he was truly challenged by the physicality of the special. He said: “Even though I had a bit of a breather, I still found that travelator hard. It’s much harder doing it in real life than watching it on TV. I’m really chuffed that I won but I have to say Sam has been an amazing partner.”

In defeat, Sam remained gracious and laughed about the self appointed Gladiators name he had awarded himself. He told the Utilita Arena in Sheffield: “El Cockroacho, baby – you can’t stamp him out!”

Meanwhile, Vogue, who won after only being two-hundredths of a second ahead of her opponent Nicola, gushed: “I honestly cannot believe it, I’ve had the best day ever. The crowd when I was doing so badly were so nice to me so thank you.”

And the Olympic gold medallist said in defeat: “I came down on the zipline and landed funny on my ankle and I just couldn’t get it going again. This is the first silver medal I’ve had!”

Nicola was the first woman to win Olympic gold in her sport when she took the flyweight title at London 2012, and successfully defended her crown in Rio four years later. Another four years later, she appeared on Strictly Come Dancing – making Strictly history as the first same-sex couple to perform after she was partnered with professional dancer Katya Jones.

Vogue’s time on Gladiators comes soon after her stint in the Australian jungle as a contestant on the 2025 season of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! The mum-of-three – who has been married to former Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews. Fans of the couple were concerned when Spencer failed to fly to meet his wife after she was ditched from the series.

Vogue was greeted by her manager – leaving some fans to fear for her marriage, which has been notoriously rock solid since they swapped vows in 2018. However, the reality star later took to social media to applaud his wife – even though they were far apart from each other.

Sharing a snap of themselves on holiday, he captioned his upload: “Disappointed to hear that my gorgeous Vogue is out of I’m A Celeb but I’m so proud of the brave stint she did in there. She showed heart, courage and fearlessness in challenges and, as always, was such a positive and pragmatic figure in camp! I would have loved nothing more than to have been there for her when she came out and am sending so much love from Antarctica.

“On the positive side, we can now all FaceTime – I know she will have missed the kids like mad and I can’t wait to hear her voice and for us to all be reunited next week.” His message came after Vogue had previously told fans that her husband was off on a wild adventure of his own.

Before her stint in the jungle, she wrote on social media: “Spence has landed in Antarctica – as I knew he would. This will be the most gruelling part of the whole challenge, but if anyone can push through it, it’s him.”

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