Alliance seeks public release of insurance data

An alliance of consumer, climate risk and housing organizations, academics, and researchers, have petitioned insurance regulators and the U.S. Treasury Department for public release of insurance data on the impact of climate change on policies, premiums, and business plans.

The industry, and some states, have fought efforts to publicly reveal the data, citing proprietary and privacy reasons, while the researchers and consumer groups say the data is vital to help policymakers craft informed solutions to the nation’s current insurance and housing affordability crises. They compare the issue to the information banks and lenders are required to make public under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to identify trends and business practices. Such high-level disclosure is not required for insurers.

In a series of letters released Tuesday and addressed to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO), the groups said that “critical information gaps persist that prevent public interest researchers and academics like us from contributing our skills and expertise to vital policy conversations.”

Groups that signed the letter

Among the the consumer groups signing the letter were the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, the Neighborhoods Climate and Community Project, the Consumer Federation of America, the National Consumer Law Center, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

NAIC last month launched a 90-day property and casualty market intelligence data call that seeks to collect zip-code-level information on about 70 data points – including premiums, policies, claims, losses, limits, deductibles, non-renewals and coverage types – from more than 400 insurers. At least one state – Louisiana – is not responding to the data call and several others, including Florida, are considering opting out, which could seriously undermine the value of the data.

Florida’s insurance commissioner and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies labeled the Treasury’s data call a “federal overreach,” burdensome,” and” unauthorized by law.”

The FIO, which conferred authority to the NAIC to collect the insurer data on climate change impacts, is so far undecided whether the information should be publicly available.

“As researchers with a concerted interest in deepening understanding for the public and policymakers on addressing the climate and housing affordability crises, we respectfully urge the Treasury Department to make the underlying data available,” said one of the three letters.

Details on insurance data participation sought

Another letter from consumer organizations asks the NAIC to specify which states and insurance companies are participating in the data collection effort, encourages transparent public access to data, and offer suggestions to expand the data call to fill gaps.

“Homeowners insurance costs are skyrocketing, people are struggling to pay their premiums or being forced to go without coverage,” it states. “And yet those with the expertise to help lack basic information about the problem.”

The FIO’s Property & Casualty Market Intelligence Data Call comes at a critical time in as the increasing frequency and severity of weather events, rising reinsurance costs, and inflationary pressures are making property insurance availability and affordability more challenging for a number of regions in the country. While a state's property insurance market may be generally healthy overall, there can be localized protection gaps that challenge certain communities, the NAIC has said.

But the consumer groups and researchers want NAIC to do more than just collect the data. They want it to share the information with them.

“There’s been utter resistance from the industry and the regulators, including the NAIC, for all sorts of reasons,” said Douglas Heller, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America. “But once the FIO got its data call through the Office of Management and Budget approval process, the game of chicken was up, and they were ready to go.”

But the consumer groups and researchers want NAIC to do more than just collect the data. They want it to share the information with them.

“At a moment in time when we are facing what I think can be called the most signifiant national insurance crisis we’ve ever seen, it’s important that this data be available,” Heller said. “It would give us at least a first opportunity to peer in and see how things vary; where insurers are exposed or overexposed, where there’s coverage and where there isn’t. We'll be able to really make meaningful analyses.”

Heller said the groups would rather the data be culled from the census tract level than aggregated by zip code.

“But it will be a lot better than what we have currently, which is only statewide data history,” he said.

Doug Bailey is a journalist and freelance writer who lives outside of Boston. He can be reached at [email protected].

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Doug Bailey is a journalist and freelance writer who lives outside of Boston. He can be reached at [email protected].