News
WHY INSURANCE COSTS KEEP RISING, AND WHAT ACTUALLY HELPS LOWER THEM
BACKGROUND:
With insurance costs on the rise nationwide, consumers are searching for clear, credible answers about what’s driving premiums. Leaders from the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) are available to separate fact from fiction and offer timely, actionable insight to help keep coverage affordable.
From market exits to natural disaster losses and rising construction costs, APCIA experts will explain what’s behind the current challenges and what homeowners, drivers, and business owners can do now to better protect themselves.
APCIA President and CEO David Sampson breaks down what’s driving insurance costs, how the industry is working to stabilize the market, and the steps consumers can take today to help secure more affordable home and auto coverage.
David Sampson has served as president and CEO of APCIA since 2007. As the leading voice for the property casualty insurance industry, APCIA advances private competitive markets to ensure access to affordable personal and commercial insurance protection.
Climate/Resilience/Sustainability
Wildfires, storms, floods contribute to record 92% of global insured losses in 2025, says Swiss Re Institute
- In 2025, secondary perils[1] – among them wildfires, severe convective storms and floods – accounted for a record 92% of total global natural catastrophe insured losses of USD 107 billion
- Population growth, rising asset values and elevated reconstruction costs among factors increasing exposure and insured losses over time
- Swiss Re's modelling shows that in a peak-loss scenario, insured losses could reach USD 320 billion in 2026, underscoring the continued need for well-designed adaptation and risk mitigation measures
Secondary perils dominated natural catastrophe headlines in 2025. The LA wildfires generated record-breaking combined insured losses of around USD 40 billion. Losses from severe convective storms (SCS) remained elevated with USD 51 billion of losses. 2025 was also notable due to the absence of a major US hurricane landfall. With long-term global insurance losses from natural catastrophes continuing to follow the 5–7% annual growth rate, sustained adaptation and risk mitigation are instrumental to maintain long-term insurability and reduce protection gaps.
El Niño to Shape 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season
AccuWeather is predicting between 11 to 16 named storms, including four to seven hurricanes and two to four major hurricanes, which are Category 3 or higher, during the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season. Forecasters also expect three to five storms to directly impact the U.S. during the season.
The historical average is 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.
A developing El Niño will be one of the biggest forces shaping the hurricane season and is one reason storm activity could be near or slightly below historical averages. Still, hurricane preparedness is critical, as multiple storms could make landfall in the U.S. this season.
El Niño is a climate pattern that occurs when ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific become warmer than normal, altering global wind patterns, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
AI in Insurance
Agentic AI Transforms Insurance Claims in 2026 | Insurance Thought Leadership
In 2026, the insurance landscape feels both challenging and full of promise. As someone whose vantage point is in agentic AI for insurance, I've seen firsthand how the landscape is changing. Rising catastrophe severity, cyber threats, and customer expectations for instant service are pushing claims operations to the breaking point. Recent data shows property claims now averaging over 32 days from filing to completion, up significantly from just a couple of years ago due to more frequent severe events. That's weeks of added stress for policyholders already dealing with loss.
But this is where I'm genuinely excited: Agentic AI is emerging as the breakthrough that's going to change all that.
UNDERSTANDING THE AGENTIC AI DIFFERENCE
Before diving into integration strategies, it's good to understand what makes agentic AI fundamentally different from what came before, and why it works so well for claims. Generative AI gave us powerful tools for handling documents and communications at scale. Agentic AI builds on that foundation but goes much further: These systems can autonomously plan, reason, and execute complete multi-step workflows, while staying firmly within governance guardrails and human oversight.
In claims handling, this translates to transformation. Imagine a First Notice of Loss coming in: An agentic system immediately ingests it, assembles the full file from disparate sources, integrates real-time external data like weather or telematics, evaluates liability, flags potential fraud, and, for low-complexity cases, approves payment in hours instead of weeks.
Artem Gonchakov is the chief executive officer of Simplifai
AI notetaker lawsuit exposes potential business liabilities
The notetakers are ready to start the meeting, but will they always be so welcome?
A class action lawsuit targeting one of the most widely used AI transcription tools is drawing new attention to a potential compliance gap: the legal risks of AI-powered meeting notetakers in the workplace.
In Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, now a consolidated case before Judge Eumi K. Lee in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Otter.ai's notetaking tools recorded private conversations without the consent of all participants and used those recordings to train its AI models without adequate disclosure. No substantive rulings have been issued yet, but employment attorneys say the case is already signaling where liability could land for employers.
"The AI transcription and recording issue is a hot issue," says Bradford Kelley, a shareholder at Littler Mendelson who co-authored a February 2026 analysis of the litigation.
Kelley says his firm gets quite a few questions from employers operating in states that have all-party consent: "What do we need to do to make sure we're in line with best practices?"
Federal wiretap laws and AI notetakers
According to Littler, federal wiretap law and most state counterparts follow a one‑party consent rule. Still, approximately a dozen states require all participants to consent to the interception or recording of a conversation. A single virtual meeting that includes employees, customers or candidates in multiple jurisdictions can therefore trigger overlapping and sometimes inconsistent consent obligations that many employers have not fully mapped, according to Littler.
Predict & Prevent
Frontline Workers See MSD Prevention Tech as Beneficial, but Participation in Adoption Is Key
A National Safety Council survey found that workers broadly view musculoskeletal disorder prevention technologies as positive for their safety and wellbeing, especially when involved in implementation decisions.
Musculoskeletal disorders remain among the most prevalent and costly workplace injuries, with U.S. organizations losing $1 billion per week to MSDs and other workplace injuries, yet frontline workers who have used emerging prevention technologies largely view them as helpful, according to a report by the National Safety Council.
Seventy percent of surveyed workers reported experiencing MSD-related signs or symptoms in their current roles, and 64% of those had missed work as a result, according to a survey from the NSC’s MSD Solutions Lab. All respondents had direct experience using at least one MSD prevention technology — such as wearable sensors, computer vision, exoskeletons, robots or collaborative robots, extended reality, or digital twins — in their current positions.
Announcements
Liberty Mutual Insurance Establishes $600 Million Endowment to Build Stronger, More Resilient Communities
Liberty Mutual Insurance today announced the establishment of a $600 million endowment for Liberty Mutual Foundation, marking a significant milestone in the company's longstanding commitment to supporting people and communities through enduring philanthropic programs and partnerships.
The endowment creates a self-sustaining source of funding for the Foundation, providing greater stability and flexibility while enabling continued growth in community investments over time. With long-term resources, Liberty Mutual can make deeper, multi-year commitments to nonprofit organizations advancing housing stability, workforce development, and climate resiliency.
Since its founding, Liberty Mutual Foundation has invested more than $500 million in 1,300 nonprofit partners delivering critical services to support individuals experiencing homelessness, expand workforce and educational pathways, and advance community-based climate solutions.
"After more than two decades of dedicated philanthropic engagement, we are taking the next step to ensure this critically important work persists," said Liberty Mutual Insurance Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer Tim Sweeney. "We have long believed that we have a responsibility to our communities and this endowment allows our commitment—and our impact—to continue for generations."
Commentary/Opinion
5 Ways to Reduce Operating Costs and Get More Control Over Your Insurance Loss Ratio
It’s no longer just a hypothesis that more and larger natural disasters, along with general inflation and social inflation, are driving up insurers’ claims costs. While underwriters continue to dial in products for today’s emerging risks, claims costs continue to rise. When you factor in that more assets are located in areas at high risk for catastrophic disasters, insurers may be wondering what they can do to reduce expenses that are under their control.
Research demonstrates 60 percent of an insurer’s performance is driven by how it operates, and its internal controls, not what lines of business or even what region it operates in. To get a hold of your operational costs, your 2026 won’t be about where market opportunities are, but whether you can cut unnecessary costs from necessary processes, learn to manage your compliance by exception, and mobilize your distribution channels to be ready to sell when and where it matters. READ ON
Research
ACORD Carrier M&A study finds 68% of global carrier transactions create organizational value
ACORD, the standards-setting body for the global insurance industry, today released a newly updated edition of its report, Carrier Mergers & Acquisitions: Drivers, Implications & Outcomes. The study examines the drivers behind carrier consolidation and the implications for operating models, technology integration, and shareholder outcomes.
ACORD studied nearly 500 carrier transactions across 84 countries that closed between July 2023 and December 2025, finding 68% of those transactions created value, while 32% destroyed value. Transaction performance was assessed based on the value created for shareholders of the acquiring carrier, measured through total shareholder return (TSR) indexed against the MSCI World Index.
The study also reveals meaningful shifts in the prevalence and performance of carrier M&A strategies in recent years, compared to the previous decade.
Embedded Auto Insurance Study 2026
The Polly 2026 Embedded Auto Insurance Study shows that insurance comparison is a point of emphasis for car buyers.
Key findings include:
- 4 out of 5 buyers arrive at the dealership confident they already have the best insurance price and coverage.
But when they actually compare:
- 68% find savings when shopping insurance at the dealership
- Many save enough to meaningfully lower their monthly payment
This gap between perception and reality matters.
68% Find Savings
Claims
GEICO ReNew surfaces via Carvana AI
A new program called GEICO ReNew has surfaced through Carvana’s AI assistant, outlining a path for GEICO customers whose vehicles are declared a total loss.
According to the AI-generated response, customers referred by GEICO adjusters to Carvana receive a $500 discount on any vehicle in Carvana’s inventory. The discount is valid for 30 days, stacks with existing markdowns, and appears automatically at checkout when users log in with the same email GEICO has on file.
The program appears designed to streamline the transition from total loss settlement to vehicle replacement by embedding incentives directly into Carvana’s purchase flow.
As background, Coverager reported last year that Carvana became a GEICO-appointed agent.
Separately, Carvana offers insurance through Root, in which it invested heavily in 2021. The company invested about $126 million in Root as part of the partnership, structured as convertible preferred equity and representing roughly a 5% ownership stake at the time.
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