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Insurance director cites PBM enforcement, high‑risk reinsurance and wildfire pressures in JFAC budget hearing
Summary
Department of Insurance Director Dean Cameron told JFAC on Jan. 21 that the agency is collecting pharmacy benefit manager data, processing numerous complaints, and proposing staff and equipment additions while warning that wildfire losses and rising reinsurance costs are tightening the property insurance market.
The Idaho Department of Insurance outlined its budget, staffing requests and market concerns to the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee on Jan. 21, telling lawmakers the agency is handling new pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reporting requirements, expanding actuarial work and addressing wildfire‑related insurance market stress.
Noah Peterson, budget and policy analyst with the legislative services office, presented the department’s request and funding history, noting the agency has 75.5 approved full‑time positions and that FY24 reversions totaled “just under $2,200,000,” split between personnel and operating expenditures. Peterson identified four enhancement requests for fiscal 2026, including a staff actuary (1 FTP, $201,900 ongoing with a $3,000 one‑time equipment request), a regulatory compliance specialist reported at $41.03 per hour (80% of policy, pay grade O), an ongoing $48,100 compensation increase for the state fire marshal leadership, and $162,200 in one‑time capital outlay to replace fire turnouts, buy cameras and purchase two medium‑duty pickup trucks.
Director Dean Cameron described implementation of last year’s PBM reform (House Bill 596) and oversight activity. Cameron said the department hired staff to handle PBM compliance and has received numerous complaints. “She’s receiving numerous complaints,” Cameron said of the new PBM analyst, and added most PBMs have submitted required data but “there are a few that have not.” Cameron told the committee the department is working with non‑compliant PBMs to secure reporting that helps set dispensing fees.
Cameron and lawmakers also discussed the state’s 1332 waiver and the high‑risk reinsurance pool the department maintains. Cameron said the 1332 waiver helped lower individual health insurance rates and increased the number of carriers on the state exchange. He described the high‑risk pool as a reinsurance mechanism that “acts as reinsurance,” where the state pool pays part of certain high‑cost claims to help spread risk and hold premiums down.
The director addressed wildfire impacts on homeowners insurance, telling the committee Idaho burned “a million acres, just under a million acres” in the most recent season and that the state “lost over 140 structures and about 40 of them were residences.” He said national catastrophic losses, inflation, supply‑chain costs and higher reinsurance prices have tightened the property market and led some carriers to shrink their footprint or nonrenew policies in parts of Idaho. Cameron said the department will propose legislation to create a pool aimed at helping homeowners harden properties against wildfires and to provide mechanisms to help carriers remain in the state.
Cameron also described operational work by the state fire marshal’s office during the fire season and said the department will request replacement protective equipment and vehicles for that division.
Committee members asked for further detail on PBM complaints and compliance data. Senator Cook and others requested a fuller numerical report; Cameron said the department would provide more information as it compiles PBM data and complaint counts. The department received a trailer appropriation to implement HB 596 in the current year—one FTP and $132,400—to support PBM reporting activities.
No formal committee votes were recorded on the department’s enhancement requests during the Jan. 21 hearing. Cameron closed by thanking members and offering to provide more detailed compliance and actuarial information to the committee as work continues.
