Part of the issue is the black box that is insurance. The state Department of Financial Services helps set rates for companies operating in New York, but on a granular level, companies use proprietary algorithms and metrics to set premiums.
Two California senators have asked for an investigation into the state insurance department's handling of complaints filed by Los Angeles wildfire victims struggling to collect payouts from State Farm. The calls follow a Los Angeles Times report Thursday that revealed a range of complaints among more than a dozen fire victims over how the state insurance department has handled their claims since the January wildfires.
It found that during that period, 19 insurers based in Florida or surrounding regions funneled billions of dollars in fees to holding companies and other affiliates that were not "fair and reasonable," as defined by various industry rules. The insurers were not identified in the study. The study showed that insurers paid investors $680 million in dividends and accepted $951 million in capital contributions from affiliates, clouding regulators' abilities to determine insurers' actual financial health.
As he prepares for his last year in office, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is going all out to make it easier for insurance companies to fulfill their wishes, doing their bidding as he usually has during seven years as the state's insurance boss. He's now under investigation by the state Fair Political Practices Commission for accepting help with campaign expenses and travel gifts, including a trip to Bermuda.
So why is there no national auto insurance crisis? In part because about 50 years ago the auto insurance industry established a risk management framework that started with data and ended with safety standards. In between were certain government mandates, narrowly targeted government risk pools and enough consumer demand that even Saturday afternoon truck ads are full of references to 4-star insurance safety ratings.
Insurance companies will always be held responsible for any decisions made with help from artificial intelligence even as the technology becomes more widely adopted and may someday be used to pay claims, insurance experts told a panel of state legislators on Tuesday. The Florida House of Representative's Subcommittee on Insurance and Banking invited several national insurance advisers to provide an overview of insurers' use of AI in their industry, in
As insurance companies continue to hike rates and cancel coverage for thousands of homeowners across fire-prone parts of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom is directing regulators to come up with new solutions to stabilize the state's spiraling home insurance market. In an executive order this week, Newsom instructed the state insurance department to submit recommendations on insurance costs and accessibility, wildfire mitigation and compensation for fire victims, among other concerns.
Consider that, from 2000 to 2020, egg prices fluctuated between just under $1 and about $3 a dozen; they reached $6.23 in March but then fell to $3.78 in June. Average gas prices, after seesawing between $2 and $4 a gallon for more than a decade starting in 2005, peaked at $4.93 in 2022 and recently fell back to just over $3.
Insurance is the climate crisis canary in the coal mine, and the canary is dying. Severe-weather events are more common and extreme because we're not doing enough, fast enough, to transition from fossil fuels and other greenhouse gas-emitting industries.
