Idaho Insurance director cites wildfire impact on homeowners, PBM oversight and reinsurance tools; seeks targeted staff, equipment and mitigation pool

The Idaho Department of Insurance asked the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee for targeted staffing, compensation adjustments and replacement equipment while describing pressure on the property insurance market from recent wildfires and broader market forces.

Director Dean Cameron said the department seeks one staff actuary (budgeted at $201,900, including $198,900 ongoing) to conduct actuarial reviews of rates and product offerings; a regulatory compliance specialist to serve as an internal legal resource (the agency proposed a pay rate of $41.03 per hour, 80% of policy for pay grade O); an ongoing compensation increase of $48,100 from the Arson, Fire and Fraud Prevention Fund to raise pay for the state fire marshal, chief deputy and deputies; and $162,200 in one‑time capital outlay split across fire turnouts ($10,000), cameras ($16,200) and two medium‑duty pickup trucks equipped with canopies and bed slides ($136,000).

“No, it started 3 years ago,” Director Dean Cameron said of the market tightening that followed catastrophic wildfires in other states and rising reinsurance costs. Cameron told the committee the department has seen carriers reduce capacity in parts of Idaho, increased use of the non‑admitted (surplus lines) market for homeowners coverage, and three recent insurer insolvencies in the past year after nearly a decade without one.

Cameron called the department’s high‑risk pool and a federal Section 1332 waiver two tools the state has used to stabilize health‑insurance markets in prior years. He described a separate proposed legislative measure to create a mitigation and reinsurance‑style pool for homeowners that would both help homeowners harden properties against wildfire and provide carriers a mechanism to spread catastrophic risk.

On pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) oversight, Cameron said Idaho implemented PBM reform last year and that the department added a position to handle PBM complaints and data collection. “She’s receiving numerous complaints,” Cameron said of the agency staffer assigned to PBM oversight; the department is collecting required PBM data and said most PBMs have complied with the data submission format while a few are still working through compliance. The department told the committee it will provide a fuller report as data collection proceeds.

The presentation included metrics: the department indicated it reverted just under $2,200,000 in FY2024 appropriations (about $917,000 in personnel and $1,277,000 in operating expenditures). The agency reported 75.5 approved full‑time positions across its Insurance Regulation and State Fire Marshal programs and noted premium tax collections are distributed statutorily across insurance funds, the firemen’s retirement system, the high‑risk reinsurance pool and the general fund.

Cameron described wildfire impacts in Idaho during the prior year: “This last year we burned a million acres, just under a million acres,” he said, and reported the state lost more than 140 structures with about 40 residences destroyed. He said mitigation — home hardening, vegetation management and replacement of combustible materials near structures — can reduce losses and that the department’s fire marshal and staff are working on mitigation outreach. Cameron said the department is proposing legislation to create a homeowners mitigation/reinsurance pool modeled in part on the state’s health‑insurance high‑risk approach.

The committee did not take a formal vote in the presentation. Lawmakers asked for additional data on PBM complaints and compliance and for continued monitoring of insurer capacity and solvency. Director Cameron introduced department deputies and staff in attendance and said the agency stands ready to provide further detail.