Monthly Archives: January 2026

Affordability, Auto Insurance, Insurers and the Economy, Legal Environment

New York Among
Least Affordable States for Auto Insurance

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

New Yorkers pay the fourth-highest personal auto expenditures in the United States, costing households an average of $1,935 in 2024, or 2.23 percent of the state’s median household income, according to Triple-I’s latest Affordability Outlook.

Up from New York’s average of $1,753 in 2023, Triple-I’s estimates reflect the burgeoning toll of several expenditure cost drivers in the Empire State, many of which are structural factors beyond the insurance industry. Citing data from the Insurance Research Council (IRC) – like Triple-I, an affiliate of The Institutes – the report highlights four cost drivers that rank among the highest in the country, including:

  • Repair costs: New York has the third-highest auto repairs costs in the United States, at $864 more than the national average;
  • Carrier expense index: New York has the third-highest carrier expense index for personal auto insurance, at 14.9 percent of losses;
  • Injury claim costs: New York has the third-highest average injury claim severity in the country, at more than twice the national average; and
  • Accident frequency: New York has the eighth-highest average frequency of personal auto accidents in the nation, at 3.09 accidents.

While traffic density, road conditions, and driver education can contribute to accident frequency and severity, excessive and fraudulent claims litigation also fuel rising auto insurance premiums and overall costs in the state. Wiping out billions of dollars in U.S. economic activity annually, legal system abuse costs New York residents 427,794 jobs and $7,027 for each household per year, earning the state a recurring spot on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s list of “judicial hellholes.”

A surge in staged crashes underpins these figures, leaving drivers increasingly vulnerable to fraudulent damage or injury claims. Such incidents – totaling 1,729 in New York in 2023 – keep upward pressure on auto rates for all policyholders, inflating average auto premium by as much as $300 per year, Triple-I estimates.

To alleviate these cost burdens, a package of state budget proposals was recently unveiled to secure $2 million in funding for investigations into alleged auto fraud and introduce new regulations that extend the timeframe for carriers to report suspicious claims. Another law would cap pain and suffering damages awarded to drivers who engaged in criminal behavior, such as those who were uninsured at the time of the incident.

New York policymakers also passed legislation last month aimed at third-party litigation funding (TPLF), or funding from often anonymous investors who can delay prompt settlements in exchange for a share of larger damage awards, thereby propelling claims costs. Though falling short of mandating TPLF disclosure during litigation, the new law parallels effective tort reforms in other states, offering hope toward insurance market stability.

Homeowners insurance holds steady

Conversely, New York’s homeowners insurance premiums “are relatively average and reasonable as a percentage of household income,” contradicting “the narrative of an affordability crisis in New York’s homeowners insurance market,” said Patrick Schmid, Triple-I’s chief insurance officer, in written testimony to state lawmakers.

With a 2.11 percent ratio of homeowners insurance expenditure to median household income, New York ranks 29th in an affordability study by the IRC, suggesting property and replacement costs contribute to the state’s housing affordability issues.

Policy interventions in insurance markets “would address a symptom rather than the cause” of such issues, Schmid stressed, urging lawmakers to focus instead on improving building material and labor costs; litigation trends; and other inflationary pressures.

While the specific policy levers may differ, Florida’s legal reforms in 2022 and 2023 led to 17 new insurance companies entering the state and rate reductions for dozens of homeowners and auto insurers, including a 6.5 percent average rate decrease for the state’s top five personal auto insurers in 2025.

Once a “poster child” for legal system abuse, Florida’s success demonstrates the need for continued reform in 2026 to promote a more competitive insurance market and greater affordability for consumers.

Learn More:

Triple-I Testifies on New York Insurance Affordability

Florida Governor Touts Auto Insurance Rebates, Tort Reform Success

Litigation Reform Works: Florida Auto Insurance Premium Rates Declining

Insurance Affordability, Availability Demand Collaboration, Innovation

Disasters, Litigation Reshape Homeowners’ Insurance Affordability

Catastrophes, Coastal Property, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Floods, Severe Convective Storm, Technology, Tornado, Wildfire, Wind

Climate Nonprofits Take Responsibility for Terminated U.S. Databases

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I 

Amid federal funding and staffing cuts to major science agencies last year, various nonprofit organizations stepped up to maintain their essential climate and weather research. Such risks may become increasingly difficult to predict and prevent, however, as key agencies, such as the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), remain targets for disinvestment or termination.

Private sector takes charge

In the spring of 2025, the federal administration attempted to rescind tens of billions of dollars in research and hazard mitigation grants, leaving many programs – like FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program – in legal limbo as legislators continue to debate their futures. Alongside funding delays and cancellations, mass firings led to the shuttering of several climate and weather information resources – until private associations and researchers mobilized to revive them.

Former NOAA staffers, for instance, regrouped to rescue the organization’s climate.gov website, which attracted nearly one million visitors per month – including teachers, policymakers, and media outlets – before being dismantled last June. Under a new domain, the site will both restore deleted information and resume tracking and explaining the effects of climate risk to public audiences, relying exclusively on nonprofit funding, according to project director Rebecca Lindsey in an interview with NPR.

Similarly, nonprofit Climate Central recently released its first billion-dollar weather and climate disaster report since assuming responsibility for that dataset, which former NOAA climatologist Adam Smith continues to oversee. Beyond rebuilding NOAA’s database, the organization aims to expand upon it in the coming years to track smaller catastrophes, providing insurers and other stakeholders more reliable information to understand individual disasters.

An initiative spearheaded by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the American Meteorological Society (AMS) is now aiming to help fill research gaps left by the elimination of the National Climate Assessment (NCA), a series of congressionally mandated reports published since 2000 to inform climate risk mitigation strategies for municipalities and businesses. Though not intended to replace NCA, the new data collection “provides a critical pathway for a wide range of researchers to come together and provide the science needed” to “ensure our communities, our neighbors, our children are all protected and prepared,” said AGU president Brandon Jones.

Grassroots efforts to archive federal climate databases and tools before they disappear have also gained traction around the globe to ensure these resources remain publicly available. The nonprofit Open Environmental Data Project, for example, saved a now-deleted tool to identify communities disproportionately impacted by climate and weather risks through its Public Environmental Data Project.

Crucial agencies under scrutiny

While the latest government spending package has largely spared science funding from further reductions, the Trump administration had proposed cuts amounting to a 21 percent drop from fiscal 2025 levels. Other agencies face potential dissolution, particularly NCAR – widely considered the largest federal climate research program in the U.S.

Managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in collaboration with the National Science Foundation (NSF), NCAR houses advanced computing and modeling systems to support weather forecasts, mitigation planning, flood mapping, and other datasets needed across the transportation, engineering, utility, and risk and insurance industries.

Describing NCAR’s research as critical to “protecting lives and property, supporting the economy, and strengthening national security,” UCAR president Antonio Busalacchi said in a statement that “any plans to dismantle NSF NCAR would set back our nation’s ability to predict, prepare for, and respond to severe weather and other natural disasters.”

“NCAR datasets have been vital in improving our understanding of the atmosphere and ocean,” said Phil Klotzbach, lead author of Colorado State University’s seasonal hurricane forecasts and Triple-I Non-Resident Scholar. “These tools have been critical input to CSU’s seasonal hurricane forecasts for over 25 years.”

NCAR’s pending fate coincides with a recent study from the University of Florida that suggests the budget cuts in part reflect pervasive distrust in scientific institutions, necessitating stronger efforts to communicate the value of scientific work to the public. But as more independent groups take on the responsibilities once affiliated with federal organizations, building public relationships may prove even more challenging, posing uncertain implications for the future of climate and weather data as a whole.

Learn More:

Inflation, Replacement Costs, Climate Losses Shape Homeowners’ Insurance Options

End of Federal Shutdown Revives NFIP — For Now

Texas: A Microcosm of U.S. Climate Perils

Some Weather Service Jobs Being Restored; BRIC Still Being Litigated

BRIC Funding Loss Underscores Need for Collective Action on Climate Resilience

Claims Volume Up 36% in 2024; Climate, Costs, Litigation Drive Trend

Data Fuels the Assault on Climate-Related Risk

Outdated Building Codes Exacerbate Climate Risk

Auto Insurance, Business Insurance, General Liability, Homeowners Insurance, Insurers and the Economy, Market Conditions, Workers Compensation

Resilient U.S. P/C Market Performance Sets Stage for a Complex 2026

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By William Nibbelin, Senior Research Actuary, Triple-I 

The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry demonstrated notable resilience throughout 2025, navigating a landscape marked by significant regional catastrophes and shifting economic pressures, according to the latest Insurance Economics and Underwriting Projections: A Forward View report from Triple-I and Milliman.

As the industry moves into 2026, the report notes, it does so from a position of historical strength yet faces an increasingly nuanced outlook shaped by market softening and lingering macroeconomic uncertainties.

The Triple-I/Milliman report is based on data through the third quarter of 2025,

Industry-Wide Performance and Profitability

The P/C insurance industry is forecast to achieve its lowest net combined ratio (NCR) in over a decade for the full year 2025. This achievement is particularly significant, given the challenges faced early in the year, including the devastating Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025.

A key driver of this success was the first Atlantic hurricane season with no U.S. landfall in 10 years. However, while profitability reached peak levels, top-line growth began to moderate. Aggregate net premium growth across all lines for 2025 is expected to be 5.9 percent, reflecting a continued slowing of the growth rate compared to 2024.

“We’re on track to achieve the lowest net combined ratio in over a decade, thanks in part to a hurricane season that spared the U.S. and strong homeowners performance, even after the Los Angeles fires in Q1 2025,” said Patrick Schmid, Ph.D., chief insurance officer at Triple-I. “Growth in personal lines premiums remains solid, and the narrowing gap between personal and commercial lines performance points to a cautiously optimistic outlook for the industry.”

Economic Outlook: Stability Meets Vulnerability

While the broader U.S. economy and the P/C sector remain stable, economists are keeping a close watch on emerging risks. The industry’s ability to maintain its momentum in 2026 may be tested by rising political and geopolitical tensions, as well as potential shifts in the labor market.

“Overall, the P/C insurance industry and the broader U.S. economy remain stable,” said Michel Léonard, Ph.D., CBE, chief economist and data scientist at Triple-I. “However, despite stronger-than-expected GDP growth in the third quarter, a closer look at the data suggests the U.S. economy may be increasingly vulnerable to rising economic, political, and geopolitical uncertainty. In particular, P/C replacement costs could still see significant increases in 2026, weighing on overall P/C performance.”

Léonard further highlighted that the labor market serves as a critical indicator, noting that a rise in the unemployment rate toward 5.0% over the next six months could potentially trigger an economic contraction.

Underwriting Results by Line of Business

Personal lines continue to anchor the industry’s profitability. Personal auto remains a standout performer with a forecast 2025 NCR of 94.4, an improvement over 2024 results. However, premium growth in this sector has slowed significantly, with net written premium growth expected to land at 3.6 percent — its lowest level since 2020. Homeowners’ insurance also showed remarkable recovery. Despite the heavy losses from the Los Angeles fires in the first quarter, the line’s 2025 NCR is forecast at 99.6, placing it on par with 2024 performance.

Commercial lines continue to face ongoing challenges in liability. While most of the industry enjoys profitability, general liability and commercial auto remain the only major lines forecast to stay above a 100 NCR for 2025. General liability continues to struggle with the highest Q3 direct incurred loss ratio reported in over 15 years.

Jason B. Kurtz, FCAS, MAAA, principal and consulting actuary at Milliman, detailed these persistent hurdles.

“General liability faces continued challenges,” Kurtz said. “Our 2025 net combined ratio is forecast to be similar to 2024, among the worst in over a decade. Losses are high, with Q3 direct incurred loss ratios being the highest in at least 25 years.”

He added, “While conditions may improve in 2026-2027, profitability remains a hurdle. Our general liability’s NCR expectations have risen following a challenging Q3, reflecting ongoing pressure in the segment. While some coverages are experiencing soft market conditions, aggregate premiums have been growing, but not enough to keep pace with loss trends.  We anticipate additional premium growth will be needed to improve general liability profitability.”

Workers’ compensation remains the strongest performing major line, with NCRs forecast to stay in the high 80s to low 90s through 2027. This sustained success is attributed to disciplined risk management and favorable prior accident year development.

“NCCI’s latest loss ratio trends continue to show declines,” said Donna Glenn, NCCI chief actuary. “In the current environment, modest year-to-year decreases are still expected.” Glenn noted that “while there have been a few rate increases filed in NCCI states, every state has its own story, and based on the latest data, NCCI does not anticipate any imminent reversal of current trends.”

Affordability, Auto Insurance, Insurers and the Economy, Legal Environment, Regulation

La. Auto Insurance Rates Benefit From Declines
in Frequency, Severity

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

More than 20 requests for auto insurance rate decreases have been filed with Louisana’s Department of Insurance by insurers since mid-2025. According to the department, the decreases were driven by reductions in accident frequency and severity.

“I’m glad to see positive movement on auto rates in Louisiana for the first time in years,” said Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple. “Because fewer accidents are contributing to these lower losses for insurers, we should not necessarily expect to see this level of decrease in future years unless we continue to pursue legal reform that addresses the foundational reasons our rates are the highest in the country.”

Temple said he hopes for further rate changes as the market continues to stabilize, citing Florida’s recent premium reductions after sweeping tort reform legislation in 2022 and 2023.

Longstanding affordability challenges

Among those who filed for rate decreases include Louisiana’s largest auto insurers, with the latest reductions impacting nearly 470,000 Progressive policyholders, or roughly 23.5 percent of the state’s auto market. More than one million State Farm policies also achieved lower average rates implemented this month.

While the statewide decreases can offer relief for drivers in one of the least affordable states for auto insurance, Temple cautioned that rates for individual policyholders will differ based on personal risk factors, urging consumers to shop among the “30 companies that have taken a rate decrease.”

The announcement arrives less than a year after Louisiana lawmakers passed a 2025 tort reform package to curb excessive lawsuits and a rate of bodily injury claims more than twice the national average. Beyond fueling higher insurance premiums in the state, such practices generate an annual $965 “tort tax” on every Louisianan and cost over 40,562 jobs per year, as highlighted by Triple-I’s consumer awareness campaign to build support for the reforms.

Other 2025 legislative measures, however, stipulate increased regulatory intervention in rate-setting, which can create further strain on an insurance market just beginning to recover. Another bill targeting nuclear verdicts (awards of $10 million or more) also failed to pass, playing a role in the state’s recurring spot on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual list of “judicial hellholes.”

Noting that reduced accident frequency contributed to the rate changes, Temple said in a statement that “we should not necessarily expect to see this level of decrease in future years unless we continue to pursue legal reform that addresses the foundational reasons our rates are the highest in the country.”

Lessons from Florida

Measurable benefits from Louisiana’s existing reforms may require a few more years to unfold, Temple added, based on the trajectory of similar legislation in Florida. In 2022, Florida accounted for over 70 percent of the nation’s homeowners claim-related litigation, despite representing only 15 percent of homeowners’ insurance claims, according to the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). State legislators responded to the crisis with several tort laws that, among other things, eliminated one-way attorney fees and assignment of benefits (AOB) for property insurance claims.

Under the reforms, 17 new insurance companies have entered the Sunshine State and dozens of homeowners’ and auto insurers have filed for rate decreases, with Citizens Property Insurance – the state’s insurer of last resort – approved for major average rate cuts this spring, according to a recent announcement from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A 50 percent drop in Citizens policies in 2025 helped facilitate the cuts, reflecting the largest transition of policies back to the private market in a decade. Later that year, additional cost-savings achieved through the reforms helped state regulators secure nearly $1 billion in premium refunds for Progressive auto insurance policyholders in the state.

Though the specific policy levers may differ, Florida’s reforms continue to model the kinds of market improvements that states like Louisiana and Georgia can expect after successfully passing their own tort legislation. State government moves like these are essential to eradicating legal system abuse and keeping insurance affordable and available, especially as legislative challenges to legal reform persist.

“Premiums are lowering because we’ve enacted real reforms and withstood the pressure to reverse course,” DeSantis said. “We will hold firm in our commitment not to go back to the broken insurance market of the past.”

Learn More:

Significant Tort Reform Advances in Louisiana

Florida Governor Touts Auto Insurance Rebates, Tort Reform Success

Litigation Reform Works: Florida Auto Insurance Premium Rates Declining

Louisiana Senator Seeks Resumption of Resilience Investment Program

Louisiana Reforms: Progress, But More Is Needed to Stem Legal System Abuse

Who’s Financing Legal System Abuse? Louisianans Need to Know

Catastrophes, Coastal Property, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Flood Insurance, Floods, Hurricane, Parametric, Wind

Few, High-Powered Storms Defined 2025 Hurricane Season

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Though producing no U.S. landfalls for the first time in a decade, the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season generated deadly tropical storms, above-average days of major hurricane activity, and millions in economic losses, underscoring the enduring community preparedness required against this evolving peril.

Among the five hurricanes that did form, four reached Category 3 strength or higher, including three Category 5 storms – marking only the second year on record that more than two such storms occurred in the Atlantic. A new Triple-I Issues Brief examines their impacts and how they align with emerging climate and weather trends, particularly within inland areas hit by flooding from remnants of the storms.

Flood exposure spreads inland

While not to the scale of U.S. hurricanes in 2024, the year’s tropical storms were similarly destructive, with remnant moisture from Tropical Storm Chantal contributing to $500 million in damage, Gallagher Re estimates. In many affected North Carolina counties, less than 1 percent of households were covered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), highlighting a growing flood protection gap in areas once considered low-risk.

Demographic shifts also play a crucial role in the devastation as more people move into harm’s way and build their homes bigger and more expensive than before. While various flood-prone areas along the coasts lost more residents than they gained in 2024 – for the first time since 2019 – it is critical to remind home and business owners about rising flood risks throughout the country and the importance of staying protected.

Stronger, wetter weather

Warming oceans also fuel “rapid intensification,” or an increase in maximum sustained winds by at least 35 mph in a 24-hour period. Since 1980, over 80 percent of landfalling U.S. hurricanes – altogether costing at least $5 billion in damages – underwent rapid intensification at some point during their lifecycle, according to a 2025 American Geophysical Union (AGU) study.

Describing rapid intensification events as “a pronounced increasing trend,” AGU study coauthor Dr. Phil Klotzbach – a senior research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University and Triple-I non-resident scholar – said such storms “tend to weaken at a slower rate as they move inland,” compounding challenges for residents who “aren’t necessarily as prepared as they should be.”

Hurricane Melissa – 2025’s strongest and deadliest storm – showcased the toll from this mounting intensity. Claiming more than 100 lives across the Caribbean, Melissa rapidly intensified before hitting Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane, becoming one of the fastest-intensifying Atlantic storms ever recorded and the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in the country’s history.

Cutting-edge analytics

As advances in computing power and data collection have improved traditional tools in recent years, forecasters and insurers have built up their arsenal to combat the unpredictability of climate and weather risks. For instance, barometric pressure – found both more accurate and easier to gauge than the wind speeds traditionally used to predict storm damage – served as the primary trigger for a  $150 million parametric policy for Jamaica which paid out in full after Hurricane Melissa.

“Displaying the kind of predictive power that can help insurers price risk and mitigate costly claims, these technologies can inform conversations at all levels to encourage investment in resilience,” the brief states.

Learn More:

Storm-Resistant Roof Efforts Gain Ground

Jamaica Payout Spotlights Potential of Parametric

Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More Than 30 Times

‘Predict and Prevent’ Insurance Model Can Restore Consumer Trust: Nationwide

Resilience Investments Paid Off in Florida During Hurricane Milton

Hurricane Helene Highlights Inland Flood Protection Gap

Affordability, Business Risk, Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Risk Management, Roof Condition

Insurer-Backed Tech Leads Effort to Address Deferred Maintenance

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

As property owners grapple with mounting repair and replacement costs, a backlog of needed upkeep continues to grow, with public buildings alone facing a deferred maintenance cost of nearly $100 billion across states, according to recent Pew estimates. Left unaddressed, these maintenance gaps can escalate into greater damages and more expensive repairs when catastrophes happen, leading to costlier claims.

Digital platform HelixIntel aims to bridge the gap by helping businesses and organizations create maintenance strategies in partnership with the insurers who protect them. Offering a “one-stop” approach to maintenance management, the platform can capture real-time risk data while streamlining maintenance organization and productivity, driving safer behaviors and preventative practices before facilities or equipment break down.

“What we’ve seen is that everyone wants to be involved and know what they can do to help,” said CEO and co-founder Jon DeWald, in an Executive Exchange interview with Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan. “What we’re working on is really showing that there’s two teams – both properties and insurers, who have the same mission in mind – and being able to provide tools that allow them to collaborate.”

Noting the unique maintenance required across various industries – from “large school districts with facility directors” to small businesses “where one person takes care of everything” – DeWald discussed how HelixIntel maximizes its impact by working directly with insurers, who then distribute the platform to their customers. The platform teamed up with Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB), for instance, to support policyholders with equipment breakdown coverage.

Beyond helping lower the cost of entry to new tech for consumers, such partnerships allow the platform to leverage the comprehensive data that insurance carriers have access to, facilitating predictive recommendations rather than purely reactive maintenance, DeWald explained.

“We’ve been saying for some time at Triple-I that the insurance industry is shifting from just detecting and repairing after a catastrophe to now predicting and preventing,” said Kevelighan, adding that, by quantifying maintenance, innovators like HelixIntel enable insurers and consumers to “really understand the return on their own investment.”

Quantifying the benefits of maintenance investments is also essential to inform effective risk mitigation and resource allocation for policymakers, who often lack insight into the impacts of deferred maintenance due to insufficient data collection and reporting. Tracking asset health, maintenance tasks, and other property-specific data through a centralized management system can help state facilities identify overdue repairs and develop long-term maintenance planning, fostering more resilient communities.

Though once regarded as a “cost center,” maintenance and other risk management initiatives are “moving more and more into the actual business strategy, so that businesses and the insurance companies that are focused on those businesses are able to prevent those losses and keep businesses open,” Kevelighan concluded.

Learn More:

Inflation, replacement costs, climate losses shape homeowners’ insurance options

Storm-Resistant Roof Efforts Gain Ground

Commercial Lightning Losses: You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure

Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More Than 30 Times

‘Predict and Prevent’ Insurance Model Can Restore Consumer Trust: Nationwide

Study Supports Defensible Space, Home Hardening as Wildfire Resilience Tools

Can a Fire-Prevention Device Be a “Gateway Drug” to Home Resilience?

Easing Home Upkeep to Control Insurance Costs

Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Homeowners Insurance, Hurricane, Severe Convective Storm, Tornado, Wind

Severe Winter Weather Ravages U.S. Communities

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Millions of Americans remain on alert for a severe weather outbreak across the country after devastating atmospheric rivers, tornadoes, and winter storms raged at the close of 2025, causing multiple deaths and significant property damage from coast to coast.

Southern California saw its wettest Christmas Eve and Day ever recorded, with more than 17 inches of rainfall in one area of Ventura County and 10 inches in parts of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County. Downing trees and power lines, the heavy rains triggered flash flooding and mudflows that hit hundreds of homes, prompting road closures and power outages throughout the state.

Another unusual weather system spawned 13 tornadoes across the Great Lakes in late December, with six in Central Illinois alone, damaging numerous homes. Prior to last year, only five December tornadoes had been recorded in that forecast area, the last of which occurred in 2021. Frigid cold conditions followed the storm as a bomb cyclone – part of the same system that drenched California – swept from the Midwest to the East Coast.

Defined as a rapidly intensifying non-tropical storm in which pressure drops by at least 24 millibars over a 24-hour period, the bomb cyclone generated blizzard conditions resulting in power outages for more than 300,000 customers and a massive Interstate pile-up involving over 50 cars and multiple semi-trucks in Detroit, Mich. Several feet of snow buried Upstate New York, with the hardest-hit areas in the Lake Ontario snowbelt.

As conditions begin tapering off on the West Coast, the first cross-country storm of 2026 is expected to bring torrential rain and snow in the South and much of the Midwest later this week. Threats of flash flooding as well as hail, tornadoes, and damaging winds loom across both regions, with heavy rains possible in the Northeast.

As always, Triple-I urges residents to stay informed, be prepared, and follow the instructions of local authorities. Checking insurance coverage is critical to such preparation, especially as atmospheric rivers, severe convective storms, and inland flooding become increasingly common. Many noncoastal communities impacted by recent flood events lack sufficient flood protection, and Californians grappling with claims from the storms may also be unaware they need separate flood policies for flooding and mudflow.

Industry Financials, Insurers and the Economy, Market Conditions, Technology

PWC: A.I. Megadeals Spur Insurance M&A Growth

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Deals exceeding $1 billion drove insurance industry mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2025, aligning with a surge of artificial intelligence-based megadeals in the broader M&A market, according to PwC’s U.S. Deals 2026 Outlook. While total M&A deal value rose to $1.6 trillion through November 30 – the second-highest value ever recorded – the insurance sector remained consistent, though ongoing economic uncertainty could challenge this stability.

Upward trends emerge

Owing 93 percent of its value to megadeals, the insurance industry’s deal volume totaled $31.8 billion during the second half of 2025, compared to $30 billion during the previous six months. Heading into 2026, PwC projects that both improved loss ratios and rising pressure on property and casualty rates will facilitate further deals, as the industry’s performance can attract investors while also leading carriers to seek growth through more acquisitions.

“In coming months, expect interest rate developments and an industry-wide search for growth to strongly influence insurance deals activity,” said Mark Friedman, PwC U.S. insurance deals leader.

Conversely, total M&A market value increased by 45 percent from 2024, with more than 20 percent of its 74 deals valued at $5 billion or more relating to A.I. Such market activity suggests “A.I. is significantly accelerating software and consumer goods development” by boosting portfolio strategies, operational efficiencies, and other gains across various industries, the report notes.

Ramzi Ramsey, a senior managing director at Blackstone Growth, emphasized the increasing role of A.I. as a core driver of M&A growth, arguing that “companies who are viewed to benefit from AI tailwinds are seeing outsized multiples and deal activities,” whereas “companies where AI is viewed to be a detractor, or if the AI impact is cloudy, may have no bid.”

Middle-market lags

Though still the third-largest in the past decade, overall M&A market volume rose by only 2 percent from 2024, with middle-market deals between $100 million to $1 billion slumping to their lowest volume since at least 2013. Tariff policy shifts largely fueled these figures, reflecting greater caution among dealmakers – particularly smaller businesses – as supply-chain risks became more unpredictable.

While sudden policy changes and recent trade disputes could persist into the new year, PwC’s report found that “interest rate cuts this year have already helped mid-tier corporates, and further Federal Reserve Board action in 2026 could go a long way in relieving pressure on them,” especially as current tariff policies continue to stabilize.

In combination with declining interest rates, “products that can withstand declining consumer performance and confidence” should help the insurance sector remain active in 2026, the report adds, pointing to A.I. investments as essential to maintaining “solid ground” in the M&A market.

Learn More:

Inflation, replacement costs, climate losses shape homeowners’ insurance options

Despite Headwinds, P/C Insurance Industry Maintains Course in 2025

JIF 2025: U.S. Policy Changes and Uncertainty Imperil Insurance Affordability