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Insurance Department warns consumers of rising property costs, plans outreach and flood-risk tools
Summary
The Connecticut Insurance Department briefed the Appropriations subcommittee on property/casualty market pressures, rising replacement costs, flood risks and outreach plans; commissioner said regulators will push for resiliency measures and consumer education and continue efforts to grow the state—s captive insurance market.
The Connecticut Insurance Department told the Appropriations subcommittee that insurance premiums, especially property and casualty coverages, are under upward pressure from higher replacement costs, inflation-driven labor and materials expenses and increasing climate-related disasters.
Commissioner Andrew Mays told lawmakers the department reviews rate requests to ensure they are not excessive or discriminatory and to protect solvency. Mays said supply-chain issues and inflation in construction and labor have raised replacement costs, which in turn push up premiums.
Mays said the department will expand consumer outreach and educational efforts to help homeowners understand flood risk, available mitigation steps and insurance options. He described an advisory effort to compile more up-to-date flood-risk information and said state officials are exploring models (including nonprofit and academic tools such as First Street Foundation) to provide address-level flood risk information for consumers.
On captives and the state market: Mays said Connecticut has actively encouraged captive insurance formation, made statutory changes and cultivated a reputation for a competitive captive market; he described ongoing outreach to industry and legislative coordination to keep the state attractive to captive insurers.
On the insurance fund and lapses: Mays told the committee that the department—s lapsing (unspent personal services) is in line with prior patterns and that lapses are credited back through the assessment process that funds the department—s operations; he supplied a June 30 personal-services lapse figure of roughly $340,000 and fringe lapse of about $411,000.
Ending: The commissioner asked legislators for cooperation on resiliency measures, improved consumer-facing flood-risk tools and continued legislative support for captive-market policies; he said the department will work with municipalities and stakeholders on outreach and translate materials as needed.
