Today's Insurance Pulse
Heritage trims reinsurance program, saving $63.2M
Heritage Insurance Holdings renewed its 2026 reinsurance and catastrophe‑bond program with a total limit of $2.2 billion, down from $2.5 billion placed in 2025. The renewal includes $712 million of multi‑year coverage, $550 million from cat bonds and $162 million from private markets. Pricing softness allowed Heritage to cut renewal costs by $63.2 million.
Also developing:
AM Best Revises Outlooks to Negative for Oswego County Mutual
AM Best has moved the outlook for Oswego County Mutual Insurance Co. from stable to negative, while maintaining its A (Excellent) Financial Strength Rating and “a” (Excellent) Long‑Term Issuer Credit Rating. The New York‑based insurer posted a 2025 operating loss of $974,000, driven by a $2.7 million underwriting loss tied to a severe lake‑effect snowstorm that generated over 200 claims. The storm pushed the combined ratio to 126.4%, marking the second consecutive year of deteriorating underwriting performance. Despite the losses, AM Best highlighted the company’s very strong balance‑sheet strength and robust risk‑adjusted capitalization.
Mitchell: Tariffs, Technology and Parts Volatility Reshaping Auto Repair Landscape
Mitchell’s 2025 analysis warns that tariffs, advancing vehicle technology, and parts‑supply volatility will dominate the auto‑collision repair market through 2026. Rising first‑party deductibles—up 3.25% in the U.S. and nearly 8% in Canada—are prompting consumers to forgo minor claims, pressuring shops...
Janus Assurance Re Launches New Marine Cyber Insurance Programme
Janus Assurance Re has introduced a Marine Cyber Insurance programme targeting shipowners, vessel managers, charterers, terminal operators, and maritime logistics firms. The product aligns with the International Maritime Organisation, IACS, and U.S. Coast Guard cyber‑risk guidelines, offering first‑party incident response...
Hippo Announces Rollout of AI-Driven Claims Workflow
Hippo Holdings is rolling out a scalable, AI‑driven claims workflow that replaces legacy systems with a unified digital platform. The new system features a 24/7 conversational AI agent for first notice of loss, aiming to capture over 70% of claims...
Insufficient Hormuz Transits Hinder Risk Diversification
With regards to Strait of Hormuz Insurance, I think it is tough for underwrites to see enough transits to generate a meaningful premium base and be diversified If you only are insuring 5 voyages a day you can't spread out the...
Medicare Advantage Forced Out 3 Million Seniors as Insurers Pull Plans, CMS Data Shows
CMS data shows about 2.9 million seniors were forced to leave Medicare Advantage plans in 2026, a sharp rise from previous years. Insurers cite rising medical costs and slower reimbursement growth, while seniors face limited alternatives, especially in rural areas.
Nexus Mutual Wants to Be the Insurance Policy Your Crypto Never Had
Nexus Mutual, a decentralized insurance marketplace on Ethereum, now serves roughly 10,000 members ranging from retail investors to institutional allocators. The protocol lets users purchase coverage for smart‑contract exploits and hacks using stablecoins, ETH or BTC, while all capital adequacy...
Japan Insurer Aioi Nissay Offers Safe Driving App for Foreign Tourists
Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance has launched a navigation app embedded in rental‑car systems that warns foreign tourists of historically high‑risk road segments and suggests safer routes. The app draws on police reports, insurance claims, and traffic‑sensor data, updating risk maps...
When Cyber Insurance Meets Cyber War, Coverage Becomes Conditional
The rise of state‑sponsored cyber attacks, highlighted by Iran’s recent operations, is reshaping cyber‑insurance contracts. Insurers now base payouts on attribution and geopolitical context rather than purely on technical breach details, turning war‑exclusion clauses into decisive triggers. This change forces...
Three Strategies for Closing Fleet Risk Blind Spots
Bob O’Connell of J.J. Keller warns that fleet operators often view risk as isolated events, a blind spot that regulators and litigators exploit. He proposes a three‑part framework: run the operation as if a merger or acquisition were imminent, embed...
NAIC Gains Power to Challenge Inflated Private Ratings
"This year NAIC analysts got authority from state regulators to challenge private letter ratings if they're 3 notches above what the staffers believe is appropriate. The power took effect in January, >5 years after they started asking for it." https://t.co/1xrLwzOj6Z ht @BenBrey
Morningstar DBRS' Takeaways From Its Frontline Perspectives Webinar on Liquidity Resilience of Canadian Life Insurers: A Holistic Approach to Liquidity...
Morningstar DBRS released takeaways from its April 8 webinar on liquidity resilience of Canadian life insurers, featuring its VP Renee Gao and OSFI’s Kliti Droboniku. The discussion highlighted that roughly 60 % of liquidity needs of the four largest Canadian life insurers...
Vehicle Customization, Strong Used Car Market Create Headache for Auto Underwriters
JD Power’s March Insurance Intelligence Report reveals more than 600,000 unique vehicle configurations sold in the United States for the 2025 model year, with the Ford F‑150 alone offering over 100,000 build options. Insurers relying on shortened VINs face valuation gaps...
Avride Robotaxi Kills Mother Duck in Texas, Sparking Neighborhood Outcry
An Avride autonomous vehicle struck and killed a mother duck nesting near Mueller Lake in Austin, Texas, igniting anger among local residents. The company confirmed the car was in autonomous mode, halted testing on the affected streets, and said it...
Property Rate Declines to Pressure Top-Line Growth in 2026: TD Cowen
TD Cowen warns that declining property‑cat reinsurance rates, highlighted by a 15‑20% drop in Japan’s April renewals, are squeezing top‑line growth for specialty insurers and reinsurers through 2026. The pressure is expected to extend to the U.S. market, particularly Florida,...
One Alliance North America Lifts Target for One Shield Re Cat Bond to as Much as $125m
One Alliance North America Insurance Company has increased the size of its debut catastrophe bond, One Shield Re Ltd. Series 2026-1, to as much as $125 million. The bond will provide three years of multi‑peril reinsurance covering named storms in six...
Recovery Works When Coverage Does: The Lifesaving Impact of Medicare’s IOP Expansion
In 2024 Medicare closed a long‑standing coverage gap by adding an intensive outpatient program (IOP) benefit for mental health and substance‑use disorders, including opioid use disorder. Early data show IOP participants improved their BARC‑10 recovery scores by 4.56 points and...
Daiichi to Reinsure Block of Whole Life and Annuity Policies with Prismic Life
Daiichi Life Insurance Co. has entered a reinsurance agreement with Bermuda‑based Prismic Life Reinsurance to transfer a block of its yen‑denominated whole‑life and annuity policies. Under the deal, Daiichi will retain policy administration while Prismic assumes the risk, freeing capital...
European Insurance Regulators Push for €10bn-Plus Disaster Fund
European insurance regulators are urging the EU to establish a disaster fund of between €10 billion and €65 billion to cover natural and climate‑related catastrophes. The pool would be financed by contributions from insurers, with possible EU budget support, and would act...
Mapfre Re Seeks $200m US Named Storm Cover with Third Recoletos Re Catastrophe Bond
Mapfre Re is launching its third catastrophe bond through the Ireland‑based Recoletos Re DAC, targeting at least $200 million of US named‑storm protection on an indemnity, per‑occurrence basis. The Series 2026‑1 Class A notes attach at $150 million of losses, exhaust at $350 million, and...
Eiopa Makes a Splash in EU Natcat Risk Pool Debate
Eiopa and the European Stability Mechanism have released a joint paper proposing a Europe‑wide natural catastrophe risk pool to spread loss exposure and lower insurers' capital costs. The blueprint outlines a centralized governance board, a proportional contribution model, and an...
CISOs Have Plenty Of Work To Do In An AI-Driven Future
AI is reshaping the chief information security officer’s (CISO) mandate from protecting infrastructure to guaranteeing trustworthy AI outcomes. As autonomous agents proliferate across enterprises, traditional security controls can’t scale, prompting regulators to demand documented guardrails and auditable behavior. Forrester’s new...
CMS Updates Psychiatric and Rehab Payments
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released proposed FY 2027 payment updates for inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs) and inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs). CMS suggests a 2.3% increase for IPFs and a 2.4% increase for IRFs, both lower than...
Howden Launches German HCMA Unit to Meet Rising European ILS Demand
Howden Capital Markets & Advisory (HCMA) has launched a German‑registered entity, Howden Capital Markets & Advisory (EU) GmbH, after securing a BaFin investment‑firm licence. The move responds to accelerating demand from European insurers and reinsurers for insurance‑linked securities, capital‑raising and...
Hospitals That Sue You for Getting Sick
A joint GWU‑Stanford report reveals that Virginia hospitals filed 1.15 million lawsuits from 2010 to 2024, seeking $1.4 billion in unpaid medical debt. More than 400,000 wage and bank garnishments followed, with attorneys earning $87 million in fees and courts adding $46 million in...
Trump’s Anti‑insurer Rhetoric Masks Policies Boosting Profits
The Trump administration has voiced some tough rhetoric about health insurers. But almost every major decision from Trump officials has benefited insurers and their bottom lines. The new Medicare Advantage rule is the latest example. https://t.co/ziGzSwknqK https://t.co/N3ACGahj3C
CEO Interview: Charlee AI
Charlee AI’s CEO, Sri Ramaswamy, says the global AI‑insurance market could surpass $45‑50 billion by 2030, driven by automation, predictive analytics, and decision intelligence. Insurance firms spend more than $300 billion annually on claims handling, making claims intelligence one of the highest‑ROI...
Virginia Advances Heat Illness Legislation While Other States Are Poised to Follow Suit
Virginia’s legislature has passed companion bills HB 1092 and SB 288 that would obligate the state Safety and Health Codes Board to adopt heat‑illness protection standards by May 1 2028. The measures require water, shade, acclimatization, training and emergency procedures for indoor and outdoor...
CMS Launches LEAD Model RFA, Bringing Medicare Advantage Flexibility to Original Medicare
The CMS Innovation Center has issued a request for applications for the Long‑term Enhanced ACO Design (LEAD) model, a 10‑year voluntary program that will start Jan. 1, 2027 and add Medicare Advantage‑like flexibility to original Medicare. Applications close May 17, 2026, and the model...
AI Adoption in Property Claims Remains Fragmented Despite Rapid Growth
A Sedgwick report finds that while 82% of property insurers have deployed AI tools, only 7% have succeeded in scaling them enterprise‑wide. Investments are set to surge from roughly $10 billion in 2025 to $80 billion by 2032, yet legacy platforms, data...
Martin O’Connell: FCA Continues to Waste Opportunities to Reform the Protection Market
The Financial Conduct Authority published an interim report on the UK’s pure protection market, highlighting persistent consumer confusion and governance gaps. The paper received a muted response from insurers and advisers, with industry stakeholders showing little enthusiasm for change. Martin...
Stone Ridge Mutual Cat Bond and ILS Fund Assets Near $6.5bn, Highest Since Late 2018
Stone Ridge Asset Management reported that assets under management across its mutual catastrophe bond, insurance‑linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance fund strategies have climbed to roughly $6.5 billion, the highest level since late 2018. The High‑Yield Reinsurance Risk Premium Fund grew to...
Admin Conflict Leads CMS Changes Favoring Insurers, Wall Street Wins
My guess is Russ Vought told the CMS guys ‘redo this to make insurers happy.’ But who knows? There was a conflict within the admin and as usual Wall Street won.
Weak at the Seams
The article argues that cyber risk is no longer a collection of isolated silos but a systemic threat amplified by digital transformation across healthcare, finance and manufacturing. While global security spending is projected to exceed $212 billion in 2025, the exposure...
86% of Businesses Refused to Pay Cyber Ransoms in 2025 — Coalition Insurance
Coalition’s 2026 cyber claims report, covering over 100,000 policyholders in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and Germany, found that 86% of the 1,400 high‑signal ransomware claims from 2025 did not result in a ransom payment. Ransom demands surged 47% year‑over‑year,...
AI Solutions for Life Underwriting
In this episode, Dale Hall interviews Whitney Barnes, Director of Sales for Insurance at Digital Owl, about how AI is transforming life insurance underwriting. Whitney explains how AI can process millions of medical record pages, extract relevant risk factors, and...
How Insurance Leaders Can Leverage AI Without Sacrificing Trust
Capgemini’s WNS unit outlines how insurers can embed control, privacy and compliance into AI deployments while still fostering cross‑jurisdiction collaboration. Techniques such as geographic data restrictions and federated learning enable model training without moving raw data. High‑impact AI use cases...
Hormuz Re-Shuts Over Lebanon Strikes: Oil Prices Rise Again | Rapid Read 9 April 2026
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the Strait of Hormuz closed hours after a US‑Iran ceasefire, citing Israel’s large‑scale airstrikes in Lebanon. Marine tracking shows only three to seven vessels transited in the past 24 hours, a sharp drop from...
Cat Bonds – Maintaining an Equilibrium in Value, for Sponsors & Investors: ILS NYC 2026 Video
Artemis ILS NYC 2026 gathered over 450 market participants for a panel on catastrophe bonds, moderated by Philipp Kusche and featuring leaders from Schroders, the World Bank, Euler ILS Partners and SageSure. The discussion highlighted a record‑fast tightening of cat‑bond spreads...
The Rise of Home-State Domiciling in the US Captive Market
The captive insurance market is seeing a surge in U.S. companies locating their captives in the same state as their parent firm, moving away from traditional offshore hubs like Bermuda and onshore favorites such as Vermont. This shift is propelled...
New Consumer Protection Rules Will Make It Easier for Customers to Deal with Insurance Claims
The Central Bank’s revised Consumer Protection Code (CPC) took effect on March 24, 2026, introducing rules that make insurance claims and quoting more transparent for Irish consumers. A key change bans automatic renewal of travel, gadget, dental and pet policies unless customers...
Prospect Medical Collapse Highlights Private‑Equity Risks in For‑Profit Hospital Chains
Prospect Medical, a 17‑hospital chain owned by private‑equity investors, filed for bankruptcy after a debt‑laden expansion left it owing over $135 million in taxes and without malpractice insurance reserves. The fallout underscores systemic risks in PE‑backed health‑care assets.
BlackRock Finds 22% Retirement Income Gap in 401(k) Plans for 70 Million Americans
BlackRock’s latest retirement research reveals a structural weakness in 401(k) plans that affects roughly 70 million Americans. By allocating 30% of a retiree’s balance to a guaranteed lifetime annuity, the firm’s simulations show a 22% increase in spending power across all...
FedEx Sues Brooklyn Lawyer Over Staged Accident Fraud Scheme
FedEx filed a 92‑page RICO lawsuit Tuesday accusing Brooklyn personal‑injury attorney Zorik “Erik” Ikhilov and his Ikhilov Law Group of running a staged‑accident ring that inflated medical bills and targeted the delivery giant. The suit alleges coordinated doctors, kickbacks and...
California Man Pleads Guilty to $270 Million Medi‑Cal Prescription Drug Fraud
Paul Randall, a 66‑year‑old Orange County resident, pleaded guilty to submitting nearly $270 million in fraudulent Medi‑Cal claims for costly, medically unnecessary prescription drugs. The scheme, run through Monte Vista Pharmacy with a pharmacist and a nurse practitioner, underscores deep vulnerabilities...
PERILS Raises Windstorm Goretti Insured Market Loss Estimate to €479m
Catastrophe data firm PERILS raised its insured‑market loss estimate for the early‑January windstorm Goretti to €479 million (about $522 million), up from an initial €467 million figure. The estimate covers property and motor‑hull lines across southwestern England, northern France and Belgium, the regions...
How the Care Gap Fuels Claims and Costs in Long-Term Care
The long‑term care (LTC) sector faces a deepening staffing shortage that is now a balance‑sheet liability, driving higher claim frequencies and premium increases for insurers. Demographic trends predict that 20% of Americans will be 65 or older by 2030, while...
From Ports to Geopolitics: Protecting U.S. Cargo Worldwide
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is widening its oversight beyond U.S. shores to safeguard American cargo wherever it travels. Chairman Laura DiBella highlighted the agency’s use of the 1988 Foreign Shipping Practices Act to probe restrictive foreign laws, global chokepoints,...
Human Risk in Geopolitical Conflict: Iran War Lessons
The Iran‑Israel war that erupted on Feb. 28 has disrupted oil markets, closed Gulf airspace and even knocked out three AWS data centers in the UAE. While organizations scramble over supply‑chain and energy‑cost exposure, Nisos warns that the real threat is...
EP506: How Other Employers, Shareholders, and Clinics Are Using Price Transparency Data—And It's an Arms Race, With Jerry DiMaso
In this episode, Stacey Richter talks with Jerry DeMasso, CEO of Payerset, about how price‑transparency data is reshaping the healthcare market for self‑insured employers, plan sponsors, and clinical organizations. DeMasso explains three key insights employers can gain: benchmarking against competitors,...