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Oregon insurance regulators flag reinsurance squeeze and roll out consumer and housing supports
Summary
State insurance officials told the House interim committee that reinsurance costs are reducing carrier capacity and driving nonrenewals, and they outlined next steps including a multistate data refresh, a funded study of a state reinsurance/risk pool and implementation of 2025 laws offering premium assistance and expanded consumer explanations for rate increases.
Chair Marsh invited the Division of Financial Regulation to brief the committee on homeowners insurance as wildfire risk and recent catastrophic events reshape the market.
TK Keen, acting insurance commissioner and DFR administrator, said a 2018–2022 multistate NAIC data call and DFR’s own reinsurance review show insurers are facing sharply higher catastrophe exposure since 2020. ‘‘Carriers are in fact getting about half the coverage for twice the price,’’ Keen said, summarizing DFR’s finding that reinsurance buyers now face sharply reduced capacity and much higher costs, a combination that constrains how much new business carriers can underwrite and contributes to nonrenewals.
Keen also noted premiums rose roughly 8% on average year‑over‑year from 2018–2022 — about a 35.5% increase across that period — while the…
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