Amid growing issues with affordability, P&C insurers outspend peers on lobbying  December 12th 2024

Amid growing issues with affordability, P&C insurers outspend peers on lobbying

As issues with the affordability and availability of property and casualty insurance in the US have turned into a nationwide problem, underwriters of that coverage have outspent their peers on lobbying the US government over the past decade.

Over the past 10 years, property and casualty (P&C) insurers have consistently put more toward lobbying expenditures than both health and life insurers, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis of year-end statutory filings.

In 2023, the last year for which data is currently available, P&C insurers spent approximately $57.2 million on lobbying while health insurers spent about $49.2 million. Life insurers spent approximately $31.1 million in 2023.

Although insurers report lobbying expenditure in their annual regulatory statements filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, questions remain about how precise this reporting is as figures listed in other sources can vary greatly.

Los Angeles-area fire explodes in size, forces thousands to evacuate

Strong winds have fanned the blaze, which at one point tripled in size in just an hour.

A Southern California wildfire whipped by “particularly dangerous” winds destroyed homes, shut schools and spurred the evacuation of thousands of people near Malibu this week.

The Franklin Fire scorched about 2,600 acres after starting late Monday and remains out of control, according to Cal Fire, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Strong winds have fanned the blaze, which at one point tripled in size in just an hour.

The National Weather Service is warning that the “particularly dangerous situation” will continue through 2 p.m. local time, though windy conditions will continue to pose a significant threat through Wednesday.

About 18,000 residents were under evacuation orders or warnings as of Tuesday morning. A stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway, spanning from roughly Pacific Palisades to central Malibu, has been closed to all traffic except those evacuating the area. All Malibu schools are closed until further notice, and Malibu City Hall has been evacuated, with officials operating out of the nearby city of Calabasas.

“This fire is not contained, and we remain under an immediate threat because of red-flag conditions,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said Tuesday at a press briefing. About 700 firefighters are on the scene, and that figure may swell to as many as 1,000, he said.

Recognizing an Improved Insurance Marketplace in California, Farmers Insurance® to Expand Its Coverage Options in the State

Farmers Insurance® today announced it will resume offering coverage for multiple lines of insurance in California to new customers, including condominium, renters, umbrella, landlord, vacant and manufactured home, in a phased reintroduction beginning December 14, 2024. Many of the reopened coverage offerings had been temporarily paused for more than a year.

In addition, Farmers®, one of the few insurance carriers that did not halt offering new homeowners insurance coverage in the state, will increase the number of homeowners policies it will accept from new customers to 9,500 per month, from its previous commitment of 7,000 monthly.

"Farmers Insurance has decided to take these steps to increase coverage availability for California consumers because we recognize that the state's insurance marketplace has indeed improved," said Behram Dinshaw, president of personal lines for Farmers Insurance. "In addition, with the impending implementation of Commissioner Ricardo Lara's Sustainable Insurance Strategy in the coming year, we want to be well-positioned to provide even more coverage options to residents in the state."

Cruise’s robotaxi service will likely shut down as GM pulls its funding

[Reddit Post 12/11/24...."Kyle Vogt (Cruise co-founder) on X: In case it was unclear before, it is clear now: GM are a bunch of dummies"

General Motors said it would no longer fund its Cruise robotaxi service as it seeks to focus its spending on autonomous vehicle development specifically for personally owned vehicles. Now Cruise employees will be combined with GM’s internal teams working on advanced driver assist systems, like Super Cruise, as well as its project to develop autonomous vehicles to sell to customers for personal use.

Ultimately, the project became too expensive for GM to justify the huge amounts of money spent to prop it up. And the automaker found it increasingly difficult to convince its shareholders that the money-losing operation would eventually pay off. The robotaxi subsidiary lost a staggering $3.48 billion in 2023 and has been seen by some as an albatross for the automaker, sucking up cash and lacking a clear path to profits.

“Given the considerable time and expense required to scale a robotaxi business in an increasingly competitive market, combining forces would be more efficient and therefore consistent with our capital allocation priorities,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a call with investors Tuesday evening.