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Insurance deputy details PBM oversight, flood data calls and delayed S 95 auto study report
Summary
Deputy Commissioner Emily Brown told the committee DFR added pharmacy benefit manager oversight staff, issued flood data calls after 2023 and 2024 floods, and expects to deliver the S 95 auto-insurance study report after a short extension.
Deputy Commissioner Emily Brown briefed the House Commerce & Economic Development Committee on Jan. 15, 2025, describing the Insurance Division’s staffing, consumer services and market conduct work, and recent regulatory actions on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), flood responses and an auto‑insurance study.
"We actually, over the past year have been attempting to hire an actuary... and we also have a market conduct examiner... currently, we're not fully staffed," Brown said, describing staffing gaps in actuarial and market conduct roles while noting three additional FTEs were added last year for PBM oversight.
Brown said Vermont’s traditional insurance market writes roughly $5 billion in premium annually and generated about $42 million in premium tax for FY2024. The division directly regulates 25 Vermont‑domiciled insurance companies (examples cited by Brown: The Co-op, Vermont Mutual, Union Mutual, Blue Cross Blue Shield Vermont, and National Life). The division also licenses more than 1,300 companies selling policies in Vermont and oversees producer licensing (agents), third‑party administrators, PBMs, service contract providers and other intermediaries.
Brown reviewed consumer services and market conduct results: last year DFR recovered about $740,000 for consumers through the consumer services team and roughly $3.1 million through market conduct actions. She emphasized the division’s role as the frontline in complaints and in distinguishing one‑off problems from systematic violations that require market conduct examinations.
Brown described DFR’s flood data calls following 2023 floods and again after 2024 flood events; responses to the most recent data call were due Jan. 17, 2025. The flood data calls asked property and casualty insurers to report on claim handling, cancellations, and timeliness of responses to ensure insurers did not cancel policyholders who were flood victims.
On S 95 (the auto study), Brown said DFR was working toward a substantive report: the original November 2024 deadline was extended to the coming month because of resource constraints, and she warned the committee they might request another short extension before delivering the study results.
Brown said the department prioritizes rate review in certain lines; she clarified that the Green Mountain Care Board reviews major medical rates (Affordable Care Act marketplace rates), while DFR reviews supplemental health products, Medicare Supplement, teacher health plan (VHII) rates, and other non‑major‑medical filings. She urged insurers to file rate requests earlier in the summer so approvals are in place when consumers shop for policies later in the year.
Brown said she would return with more detailed data and is available to provide the 2023 flood‑data results and forthcoming 2024 responses to the committee.
