AS INSURANCE RATES SKYROCKET, GROUPS CALL FOR DATA TO BE MADE PUBLIC

The following information was released by Public Citizen:

Climate-driven insurance crisis requires transparent data to understand and adapt to shifting climate

SAN DIEGO As the climate crisis pushes the cost of insurance higher each year, a coalition of consumer protection, climate, and housing justice organizations today appealed to state insurance commissioners from across the country to make more state-level insurance data public.

In a letter to Virginia Insurance Commissioner Scott A. White, who currently serves as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the groups called for the publication of the data necessary to evaluate the full scale of the crisis plaguing insurance markets across the country.

"Communities across the country are already experiencing the impacts of rising insurance costs and withdrawal," the groups wrote . "Due to the disproportionate exposure to wildfires and flooding, low-income communities and communities of color are particularly at risk from insurance hikes and withdrawals. Yet the current absence of publicly available data on insurance premiums and claims impedes regulators, municipalities, researchers, and community organizations from monitoring trends, assessing economic impacts, providing analysis, and proposing solutions."

At a press conference outside of the NAIC's Spring 2026 National Meeting, survivors of climate-driven extreme weather, organizers, and insurance advocates rallied in support of the public release of more data from the insurance industry.

"Climate change is driving a home insurance crisis," said Rick Morris, senior insurance campaigner with Public Citizen's Climate Program. "Rates are spiking all across the country, and while more and more people go without home insurance, the industry is raking in record profits. Right now, our insurance regulators are collecting raw data on home insurance. Together with 49 organizations from around the country and nearly 20,000 activists, we are calling on the state insurance commissioners to publish the results. We pay the premiums, we deserve the data."

"We hear from survivors every day who are exhausted, not just from rebuilding, but from fighting a system that was supposed to protect them," said California resident and organizer with Extreme Weather Survivors, Nicholas Hernandez. "People kept their end of the bargain. Now they're asking for transparency, accountability, and the truth."