All posts by Jeff Dunsavage

Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Insurers and the Economy, Risk Management

Welcome Back, BRIC

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By Jeff Dunsavage, Head of Research Publications and Insights, Triple-I

The restoration of FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program after its sudden cancellation a year ago is good news for communities that will benefit from the program.

Congress established BRIC through the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to ensure a stable funding source to support mitigation projects annually. Before its cancellation on April 4, 2025, the program had allocated more than $5 billion for investment in mitigation projects to alleviate human suffering and avoid economic losses from floods, wildfires, and other disasters.

At the time the program was cancelled, Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM), was critical of the decision.

 “Although ASFPM has had some qualms about how FEMA’s BRIC program was implemented, it was still a cornerstone of our nation’s hazard mitigation strategy, and the agency has worked to make improvements each year,” Berginnis said.

A coalition of 23 states challenged the cancellation and secured a court order requiring FEMA to restore billions in funding to communities that rely on the hazard-mitigation program. In a March 6 ruling, a U.S. district judge Richard G. Stearns gave FEMA 21days to unfreeze the approximately $750 million in grants that have been in limbo since the cancellation, which it did on March 31.

Tighter scrutiny

The restored BRIC program is largely the same statutory program, but now it operates under tighter judicial and congressional scrutiny. FEMA also explicitly states that the restored program:

  • Prioritizes infrastructure and construction projects that deliver immediate, measurable risk reduction;
  • Limits capability‑ and capacity‑building activities to those directly tied to infrastructure; and
  • Excludes stand‑alone planning activities not connected to physical mitigation outcomes

“BRIC isn’t a perfect program, but it’s a necessary one,” said Daniel Kaniewski, CEO of Northstar Risk & Resilience, a former FEMA deputy administrator, and a Triple-I non-resident scholar. “It was formed to help drive investment in creating disaster-resilient communities – a very real need.”

Kaniewski drew comparisons with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) “Risk Rating 2.0” reforms, which aligned NFIP premiums more closely with the risk characteristics of insured properties. Before the reforms, lower-risk property owners frequently subsidized the coverage of higher-risk homes. Risk Rating 2.0 made rates fairer and the program more fiscally sound. But further reforms to NFIP are necessary, just as BRIC may need to be updated based on lessons learned from the first few years of the program’s implementation. 

Kaniewski offered a final caution.

“BRIC alone – or any federal program on its own – isn’t going to close the nation’s disaster resilience gap,” he said. “It’s going to take community leaders, emergency managers, businesses, nonprofits – and, of course, the insurance industry – pulling in the same direction. The burden can’t exclusively fall on the property owners and federal taxpayers.”

Learn More:

BRIC Funding Loss Underscores Need for Collective Action on Climate Resilience

Convective Storm Losses: Historic 3-Year Streak

Flash Floods Set Records in 2025, Inland Risk Surges

Claims Leaders Take Charge on Climate-Resilient Rebuilding

Climate Nonprofits Take Responsibility for Terminated U.S. Databases

Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More Than 30 Times

Auto Insurance, Insurers and the Economy, Market Conditions

Oil Prices Might Reduce
Accidents, But Severity Would Offset Impact

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By Jeff Dunsavage, Head of Research Publications and Insights, Triple-I

If oil prices continue to rise due to hostilities in the Middle East, fewer drivers on the road could lead to fewer accidents and insurance claims. However, increased severity – driven by rising replacement costs – would likely overwhelm any decrease in frequency over time, according to Patrick Schmid, Triple-I’s chief insurance officer.

“Even before the war, repair costs were rising more than twice as fast as general inflation,” Schmid said.  “From the supply-chain disruptions of COVID through the past year’s economic policy uncertainty with tariffs, as well as legal system abuse, upward pressure on claim costs has been unrelenting.”

Indeed, more costly gas might not affect driving as much as one might expect. According to the American Public Transportation Association, a 10 percent rise only reduces driving by 0.2 to 0.3 percent. Even if high prices continue, the average drop is just 1.1 to 1.5 percent.

“People still need to get to work and run their lives,” Schmid said. “Gas price alone isn’t enough to dramatically change that.”

Research shows wealthier drivers cut back on driving more than lower-income drivers – who tend to have fewer choices as to how they get to and from work – when gas gets expensive. Policyholders who can’t easily reduce their driving are often the ones with tighter budgets and older, less safe vehicles.

Oil prices don’t just affect how much people drive — they also flow through the entire repair supply chain. The cost of auto maintenance and repair climbed roughly 10 percent from 2023 to 2024 alone, a trend pushed higher by inflation and a shortage of skilled technicians.

What does this mean for policyholders?

The factors that influence premiums vary widely by state, and accident frequency is just one of them.  Louisiana – one of the least-affordable states – has recently seen declines in premiums as a result of both reduced frequency and severity.  

A major contributor to high premiums is the prevalence of fraud and legal system abuse in those states. States like Florida that have proactively sought to address these factors through legal system reforms, have begun to see rate declines. Since Florida’s reforms, nearly 20 new property insurers have entered the state and existing carriers have expanded their market share, driving renewed competition in the private market. This facilitated the lowest number of policies administered by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. – the state-run insurer of last resort – in over a decade.

“It’s encouraging to see other states beginning to follow Florida’s lead,” Schmid said. “It’s important for policymakers to follow successful examples.”

Learn More:

Lessons for Texas from Florida’s Legal System Reforms

Florida Premiums Drop Amid Post-Reform Stability

Uber Joins Effort to Drive Legal System Reform

Auto Premium Growth Slows as Policyholders Shop Around, Study Says

Even With Recent Rises, Auto Insurance Is More Affordable Than During Most of Century to Date

New York Among Least Affordable States for Auto Insurance

Louisiana Auto Insurance Rates Benefit from Declines in Frequency, Severity

Revealing Hidden Cost to Consumers of Auto Litigation Inflation

Uber Joins Effort to Drive Legal System Reform

Legal System Abuse, Artificial Intelligence Cloud 2026 Outlook

Triple-I Legal System Abuse Awareness Campaign Enters California, Illinois

Georgia Targets Legal System Abuse

Affordability, Legal Environment

Legal System Abuse Awareness Campaign Spreads Across U.S.

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By Jeff Dunsavage, Head of Research Publications and Insights, Triple-I

Triple-I’s awareness-building campaign around legal system abuse and its impact on consumers and businesses – including driving up insurance premiums – continues to spread across the nation.

Over the past several weeks, brick-and-mortar highway billboards and digital displays have appeared in areas of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. This follows the campaign’s February expansion into California and Illinois. Kicked off in 2024 in the Capitol District of Atlanta, the campaign also includes a dedicated online consumer-education resource:  StopLegalSystemAbuse.org and targeted social media messaging.

By demonstrating the direct link between lawsuit abuse and increased insurance premiums, Triple-I aims to catalyze legislative action and economic relief.

 “We have already seen how meaningful tort reform in states like Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana can stabilize the insurance market and provide direct financial relief to consumers,” said Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan. “Triple-I remains committed to educating lawmakers and the public on the high cost of legal system abuse, addressing the critical issue of affordability for families, and driving legislative progress that restores balance to the national economy.”

The pain is real

Affordability – including insurance costs – is a nationwide issue, and consumers’ pain is real. Unfortunately, many legislative proposals aimed at easing that pain would have the opposite effect.  As Bloomberg warned in a January 2026 editorial, policymakers should resist politically popular but “simplistic solutions, such as capping premiums, subsidizing homebuyers, or punishing investors.”

Instead, it recommends taking steps to increase investment in catastrophe resilience and mitigate cost drivers like legal system abuse.

“In many states,” the editorial said, “underwriters must contend with laws that favor plaintiffs, outsized jury awards, and a proliferation of funds that specialize in financing lawsuits. Research suggests that such costs have been the single biggest driver of premium increases in recent years.”

Also feeding higher premiums are increased replacement costs related to inflation.

Model what’s working

As policymakers seek ways to address these influences, it’s important to learn from states that are succeeding. Florida has a long history of man-made problems caused by insurance fraud and litigation abuse that have contributed to upward pressure on insurance rates. More recently, the state’s legislative reforms to address fraud and tort reform have made the Sunshine State a national model for getting at the root causes of high premiums, instead of merely treating the symptoms.

Since reforms were enacted following a 2022 special session of the Florida Legislature, nearly 20 new property insurers have entered the state and existing carriers have expanded their market share, driving renewed private competition. That shift has facilitated a deep reduction in the number of policies administered by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. – the state-run insurer of last resort.

Other states would do well to pay attention to Florida’s blueprint and learn from these and other successes.

Learn More:

Lessons for Texas in Florida Legal Reforms

Florida Premiums Drop Amid Post-Reform Stability

Uber Joins Effort to Drive Legal System Reform

Legal System Abuse, Artificial Intelligence Cloud 2026 Outlook

Claims Leaders Take Charge on Climate-Resilient Rebuilding

Triple-I Legal System Abuse Awareness Campaign Enters California, Illinois

Take Care in Addressing Homeowners’ Premiums, Bloomberg Cautions Policymakers

New York Among Least Affordable States for Auto Insurance

Louisiana Auto Insurance Rates Benefit From Declines in Frequency, Severity

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

Industry Financials, Market Conditions, Workers Compensation

Workers’ Comp:
Quiet Overachiever
in P/C Insurance

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By William Nibbelin, Senior Research Actuary, Triple-I

While personal auto and home insurance tend to be the focus of most insurance-related headlines, workers’ compensation has quietly become a model of stability and profitability. According to Triple-I’s latest Issues Brief, 2024 marked the third-best underwriting performance for the line in two decades, with a net combined ratio of 87.8.

That’s a full decade of underwriting profit for the industry. Since 2015, workers’ comp has consistently outperformed the property and casualty (P/C) insurance market. Combined ratio is the most common measure of insurer underwriting profitability. It is calculated by dividing the sum of the claim-related losses and expenses by premium. In its simplest form, a combined ratio under 100 means the insurer is making an underwriting profit; over 100 means the insurer is paying out more than it’s taking in.

The Jobs Engine and Premium Growth

Workers’ comp premiums are tied directly to the workforce. When more people work and wages rise, premiums generally follow. Only in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, employment numbers shrank in at least 15 years. Since 2020, the years 2021 through 2024 have seen the highest year-over-year increases in payroll in over two decades. However, premiums aren’t growing as fast as they are for other types of insurance, suggesting that the cost of coverage isn’t increasing though more people are working.

Safer Workplaces

Claims “frequency” — the measure of how often they happen — has been dropping steadily at an annual compound rate of -5.6 percent from 2015 to 2024, indicating work is getting safer. However, the “severity” of claims — the average cost of each claim — has been increasing.

When compared to the overall economy (GDP), however, the average cost of claims is decreasing. Therefore, the rising costs of individual claims are being driven more by general inflation in the economy than by workplace safety getting worse.

A More Competitive Market

One measure of industry competition is market concentration, which can be determined by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). The higher the index, the more market share is concentrated in fewer companies, implying less competition. The workers’ comp market has become much more competitive over the last 10 years. This is partly because states are moving away from government-run systems. For example, Missouri recently privatized its state fund in early 2025. Today, only 18 states have a competitive state fund. The direct combined ratio for fully privatized states has outperformed these states eight of the last 10 years. Fortunately, the direct written premium for these competitive funds as a percentage of total workers’ comp premium has dropped from 14.9 percent in 2015 to 12.9 percent in 2024.

Learn More:

NCCI Sees Underwriting Profitability Continuing for Workers Comp Line

NCCI AIS 2025: Key Insights on Workers Comp

Workers Comp Premium, Loss, Market Trends Support Its Ongoing Success

Affordability, Legal Environment

Triple-I Legal System Abuse Awareness Campaign Enters California, Illinois

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

As part of its continuing effort to highlight the impacts of legal system abuse, Triple-I has launched public awareness campaigns on the need for legal reforms in Los Angeles, Calif., and Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago. The campaigns comprise brick-and-mortar billboards and digital scapes in high-traffic areas across both regions, all of which promote Triple-I’s updated StopLegalSystemAbuse.org microsite.

California and Illinois are perennial members of the American Tort Reform Foundation’s (ATRF) annual list of “judicial hellholes,” or jurisdictions where the organization believes legal system abuse runs rampant. Los Angeles topped its most recent list due to frequent nuclear verdicts and “novel theories of product and environmental liability” to the disadvantage of defendants, ATRF says, with Cook County ranked seventh.

A consumer guide co-authored by Triple-I and Munich Re outlines how such practices fuel rising insurance premiums and other cost burdens throughout the country, to the tune of $6,664 in added annual costs for an American family of four and 4.8 million in jobs lost nationwide. Per resident, these annual costs amount to $2,566.70 in California and just over $2,000 in Illinois, with both states losing hundreds of thousands of jobs every year.

Billboard lawyers blur reality

Attorney advertising often obfuscates this reality, implying plaintiffs win big rather than receive only a fraction of awarded damages. Triple-I’s most recent Issues Brief on legal system abuse notes that legal service providers spent $2.5 billion on millions of ads in 2024 largely to tout this messaging, which research suggests increases the number of plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation (MDL), or large, complex lawsuits consisting of multiple civil cases in different districts.

Additional research from Triple-I and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) estimates that excessive litigation drove $231.6 billion to $281.2 billion in increased liability insurance losses from 2015 to 2024, a finding that economic inflation alone cannot explain. A separate Triple-I report on civil case filings reinforces the trend, revealing an estimated $42.8 billion in excess litigation value from motor vehicle tort cases filed between 2014 and 2023 in the federal and state civil courts.

Gaining momentum

Triple-I’s new campaigns build on the momentum of its parallel efforts in Georgia and Louisiana, where state lawmakers successfully passed sweeping legal system abuse reforms last year. Both states, for instance, have established greater oversight of third-party litigation funding to prevent outside investors from gaming the court system for profit. Though the reforms remain too recent to fully affect premiums, legal reforms in Florida model the kinds of subsequent market improvements these states can later expect.

Families and businesses across the country are grappling with rising costs. By distorting loss trends and propelling claims expenses, unnecessary and drawn-out litigation serves only to exacerbate the strain. Addressing these pressures requires ongoing dialogue between regulators, consumers, industry leaders, and other stakeholders to ensure fairness in the court system while supporting a stable insurance environment that keeps coverage accessible.

Learn More:

Take Care in Addressing Homeowners’ Premiums, Bloomberg Cautions Policymakers

Revealing Hidden Cost to Consumers of Auto Litigation Inflation

Litigation Reform Works: Florida Auto Insurance Premium Rates Declining

New Consumer Guide Highlights the Economic Impact of Legal System Abuse and the Need for Reform

Triple-I Brief Highlights Legal System Abuse and Attorney Advertising

Significant Tort Reform Advances in Louisiana

New Triple-I Issue Brief Puts the Spotlight on Georgia’s Insurance Affordability Crisis

Artificial Intelligence, Technology

Amid Data Boom, Actuarial Analysis Belongs in the Forefront

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Given the growing ubiquity of artificial intelligence, its practical applications may seem self-evident. But for actuaries – whose work hinges on rigorous modeling and explainable risk assessment – translating AI-driven insights into analysis may pose as many challenges as solutions. A well-defined balance between technological capability and ongoing actuarial judgement is essential to navigating this shift.

“The challenge is not that there’s too much data – it’s having an awareness of what you’re looking for and then finding it,” said Dr. Michel Léonard, Triple-I chief economist and data scientist, in a recent interview for the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) Institute’s Almost Nowhere podcast. “If you look at all the data and it’s not focused and translated, the signal is not going to be what you need.”

Noting that many AI models train on varied language sources, Léonard stressed that data understanding and preparation are crucial to confronting the “black box,” or opacity surrounding the training and internal decision-making processes of complex algorithms. To integrate AI into risk assessment, carriers will need to demonstrate the mechanisms and actuarial record behind the models they deploy, especially for regulators and the broader public.

Though dynamic wildfire models, for instance, “very clearly show that the risk is more frequent and severe,” ongoing transparency around how these models work will be key to building “a bridge between regulators and the industry,” Léonard said.

While such models have facilitated greater access to granular, real-time data, critical information gaps continue to impede effective risk forecasting, especially following the 2025 federal government shutdown. Beyond being the longest federal closure in U.S. history, the shutdown also delayed or left permanent gaps in crucial survey data on employment, inflation, and other economic indicators, fueling more uncertainty for decision makers heading into 2026.

“Because of this uncertainty, we’re forecasting on the trend, which means that we cannot stress test or include validation for those stress tests,” Léonard said. “The lack of data on the U.S. economy is the main challenge for us right now.”

Current tariff policies – especially those targeting materials used in repairing and replacing property after insured events – add to the ambiguity. Though insurers appeared to avoid “the worst-case scenario” of COVID-19 levels of market instability last year, strategic stockpiling of imported goods to circumvent later post-tariff prices may have obscured their full impact, Léonard explained.

A pending Supreme Court ruling will determine the future of these policies, leaving global markets and consumers braced for potentially rising costs. Yet Léonard emphasized the insurance industry’s resilience in managing such “extreme, black swan-type events,” pointing out “that’s why we have a reasonable and adequate policyholder surplus” and other assets to ensure consumers remain protected.

Listen to Podcast: Spotify, Apple, YouTube

Learn More:

Tariffs, Shutdown Cloud 2026 Insurance Outlook

Triple-I Brief Explains Benefits of Risk-Based Pricing of Insurance

Tech — Especially A.I. — Is Top of Mind for Global Insurance Executives

JIF 2025 “Risk Takes”: Data Solutions for Today’s Challenges

L.A. Homeowners’ Suits Misread California’s Insurance Troubles

Data Granularity Key to Finding Less Risky Parcels in Wildfire Areas

Executive Exchange: Insuring AI-Related Risks

Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Flood Insurance, Floods, Homeowners Insurance

Flash Floods Set Records in 2025, Inland Risk Surges

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Deadly floods swept through the United States at a record pace in 2025, triggering more flash flood warnings than any year to date. With flood events in 99 percent of U.S. counties over the past 20 years, more communities are vulnerable to flooding than ever before, especially as exposure spreads increasingly inland.

Many homeowners, however, remain unprotected from the risk, underscoring a growing coverage gap as more people move into harm’s way. A new Triple-I Issues Brief explores the insurance industry’s role in closing that gap, as well as the public outreach and mitigation investment needed to reduce losses for all co-beneficiaries of flood resilience.

Extreme weather on the rise

Floods – alongside severe convective storms and wildfires – accounted for nearly all insured global losses last year, at $98 billion of $108 billion, according to Munich Re estimates. In the United States, inland flooding from both tropical and severe convective storms caused much of the devastation, led by the unprecedented Central Texas flood that claimed more than 130 lives.

Defined by NOAA as a rapid swing between two extreme environmental conditions, “weather whiplash” is becoming increasingly frequent in states like Texas and California, where prolonged droughts collide with periods of heavy rains and flooding, amplifying their effects. Fueled by increased tropical moisture from higher ocean temperatures, these drought-to-flood/hot-to-cold transitions drove many of the 21 billion-dollar severe convective storms in 2025, more than any prior year on record.

Flood market growth continues

Many homeowners remain unaware that a standard homeowners’ policy doesn’t cover flood damage or believe flood coverage is unnecessary unless their mortgage lender requires it. A separate 2023 study from Munich Re, in collaboration with Triple-I, found 64 percent of homeowners  believed they were not at risk for flooding. It also is not uncommon for homeowners to drop flood insurance coverage once their mortgage is paid off to save money.

Though more than half of all homeowners with flood insurance are covered by FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), federal regulations introduced in 2019 allowed mortgage lenders to accept private flood insurance if policies abided by regulatory definitions, steering a greater percentage of private insurers to the flood market. Between 2016 and 2024, the total flood market grew by nearly 43 percent – from $3.29 billion in direct premiums written to $4.7 billion – with 79 private companies writing just over 27 percent of the business.

Public-private partnerships are crucial

Comprehensive flood protection, however, entails more than adequate coverage. A joint study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Allstate found every dollar invested in disaster resilience can save up to $33 in avoided economic costs down the line. The study emphasized the need for collective action at all levels – individual, commercial, and government – to minimize climate and weather losses.

The NFIP’s Community Rating System (CRS) is one such collaboration, which rewards homeowners with premium discounts of up to 45 percent when their communities invest in floodplain management practices exceeding the organization’s minimum standards. By incentivizing improved building codes, citizen awareness campaigns, and other mitigation initiatives, the CRS can strengthen at-risk areas while offering relief where still needed after the cancellation of programs like FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC).

Learn More:

Climate Nonprofits Take Responsibility for Terminated U.S. Databases

Few, High-Powered Storms Defined 2025 Hurricane Season

Industry, Universities Team Up to Study Convective Storms

End of Federal Shutdown Revives NFIP — For Now

Storms Slam California, Raising Mudslide Risk

Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More than 30 TimesSome Weather Service Jobs Being Restored; BRIC Still Being Litigated

Homeowners Insurance, Insurers and the Economy, Legal Environment

Take Care in Addressing Homeowners’ Premiums, Bloomberg Cautions Policymakers

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By Jeff Dunsavage, Senior Research Analyst, Triple-I

While rising homeowners’ insurance can be a problem for some consumers, a recent Bloomberg editorial cautions policymakers against pursuing “simplistic solutions, such as capping premiums, subsidizing homebuyers, or punishing investors.”

Instead, it recommends taking steps to increase investment in catastrophe resilience and mitigate claim cost drivers, such as legal system abuse.

Bloomberg attributes slumping condominium prices and rising rents, in part, to increasing homeowners’ insurance premiums.

“Average homeowners insurance premiums rose almost 25 percent from 2019 to 2024 in real terms,” the editorial says. While politicians “have been quick to blame greedy insurers,” the reality is more complicated. Contributing factors include:

  • Increasingly costly disasters – evidenced by a sharp increase in billion-dollar catastrophes. In 2025, Bloomberg says, insured losses from such calamities reached $108 billion.
  • Insufficient investment by states in disaster resilience measures, “such as retrofitting public works and enforcing appropriate building codes”.
  • Escalating legal costs that are passed on to homeowners.

“In many states,” Bloomberg says, “underwriters must contend with laws that favor plaintiffs, outsized jury awards, and a proliferation of funds that specialize in financing lawsuits. Research suggests that such costs have been the single biggest driver of premium increases in recent years.”

Also feeding higher premiums are increased replacement costs related to record inflation during and since the COVID-19 pandemic.

In attempts to address these rising costs, several states in recent years have introduced legislative measures that would do more harm to homebuyers than good. Illinois insurers last year narrowly avoided increased government involvement in insurance pricing as state legislators rejected “an extreme prior-approval system found nowhere else in the country,” according to a joint statement from the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, and the Illinois Insurance Association.

When California tried to artificially suppress premiums, “underwriters fled the market and left homeowners and the state’s insurer of last resort exposed to last year’s horrific wildfires”.  Since then, the state has allowed significant premium rate increases to lure insurers back.

Bloomberg recommends that states start by prioritizing the resilience of buildings and public works.

“Tax breaks and grants for hardening homes against floods, fire, and wind are a short‑term expense with long‑term benefits,” the editorial says, citing research that found communities lose as much as $33 in future economic activity for every $1 not invested in preparedness.

“The federal government, for its part, should commit to restoring FEMA’s pre‑disaster mitigation program and similar efforts,” Bloomberg says. “With strong oversight, such investment can protect property, limit job losses, accelerate rebuilding, reduce premiums, improve public health, and ultimately save money and lives.”

When it comes to litigation trends that put upward pressure on claim costs and, ultimately, premium rates, Florida offers an encouraging example.

“In 2021, the state was home to 6.9 percent of homeowner claims but 76 percent of the lawsuits against insurers,” Bloomberg says. “State lawmakers enacted reforms over the next two years that limited plaintiffs’ ability to allege negligence and recoup expenses, with significant results: At least 17 new insurers entered the market and dozens reduced premiums.”

Triple-I, its members, and its partners have long been engaged in helping policymakers and the public understand the forces that affect insurance affordability and availability and how they can help mitigate the factors that drive up costs.  

“It’s refreshing to see this type of thoughtful analysis of the homeowners’ insurance market by an authoritative financial news organization like Bloomberg,” said Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan.  “Consumers and policymakers need to understand that higher premiums are a symptom of the current risk environment, not its cause.”

Learn More:

Triple-I Testifies on New York Insurance Affordability

Florida Governor Touts Auto Insurance Rebates, Tort Reform Success

Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More Than 30 Times

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

Allstate, Aspen Initiative Seeks to Ease Trust Gap

Illinois Lawmakers Reject Risk-Based Pricing Challenge

New Illinois Bills Would Harm — Not Help — Auto Policyholders

Insurance Affordability, Availability Demand Collaboration, Innovation

Disasters, Litigation Reshape Homeowners’ Insurance Affordability

Tariff Uncertainty May Strain Insurance Markets, Challenge Affordability

Disaster Preparedness, Regulation, Terrorism Risk

TRIA Reauthorization Bill Advances to the House

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

A bill that would extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) through 2034 recently cleared a U.S. House committee with strong bipartisan support, offering hope for the program’s renewal later this year.

Enacted in 2002 after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, TRIA created a federal backstop that shares catastrophic terrorism losses between insurers and the government, allowing private insurance markets and other industries to remain stable while absorbing such events. Congress has reauthorized TRIA four times since its inception, and no events have yet triggered the backstop.

With TRIA scheduled to expire at the end of 2027, many commercial property/casualty insurers are already preparing for the program’s potential lapse, driving risk and insurance leaders to urge proactive legislation ensuring its continuation.

“American businesses must be provided with the essential coverage to successfully operate in today’s uncertain global environment,” said Will Melofchik, CEO of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, in a statement on the bill last year. “Failure by Congress to extend TRIA would likely result in the inability of insurers to offer coverage for future catastrophes resulting from terrorism, making terrorism risk insurance unavailable and unaffordable.”

Testifying on behalf of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), former Connecticut Insurance Commissioner and NAIC past president Andrew N. Mais said, “Businesses and consumers that live, work, and shop in communities in every state benefit from a stable insurance sector, which provides commercial terrorism insurance only because TRIA exists as a backstop.”

“Absent TRIA or a similar solution, we do not believe private insurance carriers would make meaningful capacity for affordable commercial terrorism coverage available,” Mais added.

Though the bill may evolve as it passes through the full House and Senate, it currently would raise the minimum loss threshold of $5 million to $10 million in 2029, as well as introduce a transparency measure that requires the Treasury Department to publish a notice in the Federal Register no less than 30 days after beginning the terrorism determination process.

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