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Commissioners warn rising tort awards and insurer exits are driving up county insurance costs
Summary
Cowlitz County commissioners and staff described a sharp rise in claim sizes and insurer withdrawals in Washington, raising the county’s self‑insured retention and predicting a 20–25% premium increase; commissioners said the county and state risk pool are pursuing legislative and lobbying responses.
Commissioners said rising claim sizes and the withdrawal of domestic insurers from Washington are forcing the county’s insurance risk pool to assume larger portions of liability and will raise premiums for local governments.
At the meeting a county official summarized changes in the risk‑pool structure: four years ago the risk pool covered the first $175,000 of an individual claim, then a private carrier covered the next layers; today the county said the risk pool’s self‑insured retention has risen to $3 million and that the pool is carrying layers that previously sat with private insurers.
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