Around the PIA Western Alliance States – Week of November 2, 2026

California — Commissioner Lara finalizes long-term solvency regulation: Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara finalized the Long-Term Solvency Planning Regulation, establishing a first-in-the-nation framework requiring California-based insurance companies to prepare for climate risks, artificial intelligence, cyber threats, and other emerging challenges that could affect their financial strength and ability to pay claims over the coming decades.

The regulation provides the California Department of Insurance with additional forward-looking information and tools to identify vulnerabilities earlier, strengthen oversight, and address potential financial concerns before they become larger problems for policyholders or the insurance market.

“Climate change, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity threats, and other developments are already reshaping the future of insurance,” said Commissioner Lara. “Waiting until those challenges become crises is not a strategy. We are acting now to ensure insurers are preparing for what lies ahead so they can continue keeping their promises to consumers. Every consumer who pays an insurance premium deserves confidence that their insurance company will be there when they need it most, not only today, but years from now.”

Preparing Insurance Markets for the Decades Ahead

Through Commissioner Lara’s work with the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and other global initiatives, he has helped develop guidance addressing climate-related financial risk, catastrophe resilience, and long-term insurance supervision. The regulation brings those lessons into California’s financial oversight framework within the nation's largest insurance market and draws on Commissioner Lara’s years of international collaboration and forward-looking planning approaches used by financial authorities including the Banque de France, Bank of England, Bank of the Netherlands, Canada’s chief insurance regulator, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

California-based insurance companies will now be required to evaluate how climate risks, artificial intelligence, cyber threats, technological disruption, and other developing challenges and opportunities could affect their financial strength, operations, investments, and underwriting strategies over time. Companies will provide the Department with forward-looking information about how they are analyzing and preparing for these risks, with enhanced requirements for companies writing more than $50 million in direct annual premiums nationwide.

The final regulation builds on the framework that Commissioner Lara proposed this June, which was followed by a public hearing in July, and caps years of work during his nearly eight-year tenure as Insurance Commissioner to modernize California’s insurance oversight. This regulation will also help give future Insurance Commissioners a lasting framework to protect consumers and keep the insurance market stable as risks continue to evolve and change.

Strengthening Consumer Protection Before Crisis Strikes

Every insurance policy is a promise. Consumers pay premiums today with the expectation that insurance companies will financially be able to pay claims tomorrow. The regulation strengthens the ability of regulators to monitor developing risks before they threaten that promise and requires covered insurance companies to prepare for challenges before they become financial vulnerabilities.

“This regulation reflects a simple belief: protecting consumers means preparing for the future, not reacting to it,” said Commissioner Lara. “The questions confronting California are increasingly the same questions confronting insurance regulators around the world. This framework ensures that we are not simply responding to those conversations but helping shape them.”

What Leaders and Experts Are Saying

“Long-term solvency strategies for insurance companies are foundational to financial resilience in the face of technological change and climate threats,” said Yoshihiro Kawai, Chair of Global Asia Insurance Partnership (GAIP) and Southeast Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF). “Forward-looking risk management tools, like scenario analysis, bring together planning for emerging risks and closing insurance protection gaps, which are both critical for future sustainability.”

“Resilience is a shared responsibility that requires cross-border cooperation and a long-term commitment from insurance supervisors. Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s leadership and sustained commitment have been instrumental in making climate resilience and catastrophe risk key priorities on our shared agenda” said Guillermo Plate, President of the Association of Insurance Supervisors of Latin America and Superintendent of Insurance of Argentina. “Forward-looking strategies for long-term solvency can help build more resilient insurance markets and better protect our communities against future risks.”

“Insurance risks do not stop at national borders, which makes collaboration among regulators more important than ever,” said Steven Rothstein, Managing Director, Ceres Accelerator. “Commissioner Lara has been a strong partner on creating climate risk strategies and turning international lessons into action in California. His regulation shows how forward-looking, accountable planning can strengthen future insurance supervision, better protect policyholders, and lead to more sustainable economies.”

“The combined impacts of advances in risk assessment technology and damaging weather events associated with climate change are profoundly altering the property insurance ecosystem,” said Amy Bach, Executive Director of United Policyholders. “Effectively coordinating with other regulators and stakeholders with a forward looking eye to ensuring that insurance safety nets will continue to be in place for people and businesses impacted by disasters will be part of Commissioner Lara's legacy of leadership in a fast-evolving commercial environment. We commend him and his administration for advancing this important regulation.”

“We are in an era of rapidly changing risks, from the rising impacts of weather-related extremes as the planet warms to the breakneck pace of technological change,” said Carolyn Kousky, Executive Director and Founder, Insurance For Good. “Improving our risk management and investing in reducing risk, however, takes time and insurers should not begin this work only after losses have been devastating. By asking insurers to plan for 2030, 2040 and 2050, California is pushing the industry to prepare for the risks that are coming, not just the ones we’ve already seen.”

Q&A:

What does insurance company solvency mean for Californians?

Solvency means an insurance company has enough money set aside to pay the claims it owes, both today and years from now. When a family loses a home in a wildfire, a driver has a serious accident, or a business suffers a covered loss, they are counting on their insurance company to be financially prepared to pay covered claims, quickly and fully.

The Department’s existing oversight already includes regular financial reviews and examinations of insurance companies operating in California’s admitted market. The new regulation adds a longer view, so Department of Insurance experts can also evaluate how companies are preparing for risks already underway and how those risks or a confluence of those risks could affect their ability to pay claims in the years ahead.

Does this change existing insurance policies or rates?

No. The regulation does not change existing insurance policies, their coverage, or the rates consumers pay, and consumers do not need to take any action. It requires covered insurance companies to give the Department more information about how they are planning for future risks. That helps the Department oversee their financial health and helps make sure they can pay claims for years to come.

Which insurance companies does the regulation apply to?

The regulation applies to “California-domiciled” insurers, meaning insurance companies headquartered in California, with enhanced requirements for insurers that write more than $50 million in direct annual premiums nationwide.

Why does California need long-term solvency planning now?

The growth of artificial intelligence is one of the clearest examples of why regulators need to look forward. As insurance companies adopt new technologies and increasingly complex data and models, regulators also must understand how the risks that can come with rapid technological change could affect insurance companies and the people and businesses relying on them.

Climate change provides a real-world example of why long-term financial planning matters. After the 2018 Camp Fire devastated the Town of Paradise, the volume of claims contributed to the insolvency of one California insurance company. This showed how a catastrophic event can put enormous financial pressure on an insurance company at the very moment policyholders are counting on it most.

The regulation takes a wider view, requiring long-term planning that considers cybersecurity threats, emerging technologies, changing economic and financial conditions, and other risks and opportunities that could affect an insurance company’s financial strength over time.

Why does the regulation look ahead to 2030, 2040, and 2050?

The longer view is important because many of the risks reshaping insurance do not develop overnight. Their financial impact can evolve and compound over years or even decades. By looking beyond the immediate future, the Department can better assess how insurance companies are identifying those changes, considering their potential financial impacts and preparing to remain financially resilient as conditions evolve

For consumers, that means California’s financial oversight will not be focused only on whether an insurance company is financially sound today. It will also look at how companies are preparing for the risks of tomorrow, strengthening the Department’s ability to address potential financial concerns before they can grow into larger problems for policyholders or the insurance market.

When do insurance companies have to start reporting?

The regulation takes effect October 26, 2026. Covered insurance companies must assemble and make available their first long-term solvency plans to the Department's examiners by January 1, 2028.

Source link: California Department of Insurance — https://bit.ly/4zvSykM

Montana — Utilize ACA Open Enrollment Period, Carefully Review Any ‘Limited Partner’ Plans: State Auditor James Brown reminds Montanans who receive or want to apply for health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace to utilize the open enrollment period from November 1, 2026, to January 15, 2027.

The open enrollment period allows people to apply for, renew, or change health plans through the ACA Marketplace for the coming year. Coverage can begin as soon as January 1, 2027, if one enrolls in or change plans by December 15, 2026.

The last day to enroll in or change plans for the year is January 15, 2027. After that date, consumers may only enroll in or change Marketplace plans if they qualify for a Special Enrollment Period. Coverage starts on February 1, 2027, for those who enroll in or change plans from December 16, 2026, to January 15, 2027, and pay their first premium.

For more information on the ACA Marketplace or to utilize the open enrollment period, visit healthcare.gov.

Auditor Brown also advises Montanans to carefully review any health insurance coverage offered outside of the ACA Marketplace. The agency has identified plans that claim they are “self-funded” and refer to consumers as “limited partners” or “employees” in order to avoid Montana consumer-protection regulations.

These plans may not be compliant with the ACA and do not provide comprehensive medical coverage, although they may be marketed otherwise. This leaves consumers with the possibility of being responsible for unpaid medical bills.

Individual health plans that comply with the ACA are available through a licensed insurance agent or www.healthcare.gov.

“If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. If a health insurance policy offers unusually low premiums and low deductibles yet promises full or unlimited coverage, be skeptical,” Auditor Brown said.

Montana consumers can contact the Insurance Consumer Service (ICS) Bureau at the Auditor’s Office before enrolling in a plan if they have any questions or concerns. ICS can be reached at 800-332-6148 or 406-444-2524.

New Mexico — Bulletin 2024-022: Bulletin 2024-022 that was issued on October 29, 2024 is hereby amended to delete the sentence,

“This Bulletin shall expire two years after the date it is issued by the Office of Superintendent of Insurance (the OSI) unless otherwise earlier rescinded, revoked or extended.”

which is hereby replaced by the sentence, “This Bulletin shall remain in effect indefinitely unless expressly revoked.” With these changes, Bulletin 2024-022 is hereby extended and remains in effect.

Every Bulletin will be published on the OSI website and will be distributed via the OSI newsletter. Any interested party may subscribe to receive newly issued bulletins through this link: https://osi.state.nm.us/en/about-us/newsletter/ Should you have any questions related to this Bulletin, please contact Melissa Robertson, Property & Casualty Bureau Chief at (505) 670-2704 or Melissa.robertson@osi.nm.gov

For complete content — https://bit.ly/3UweRHG

Washington — Modernize producer licensing and reporting requirements (R 2026-06) rulemaking announcement posted: We are considering a rulemaking to clean up and modernize rule language to better reflect the OIC’s current electronic licensing and verification processes. This includes removing outdated requirements to submit a paper score report, eliminating references to fingerprint cards that are seldom used due to electronic fingerprinting, removing an obsolete reference to a five-dollar filing fee, and clarifying the timeline for license exam results to count for an application. In addition, rulemaking may be considered to provide guidance for an insurer who is terminating a producer’s appointment for cause.

The comment period for this rule began on October 30, 2026, at 8 a.m. and is open until November 6, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Please send comments to rulescoordinator@oic.wa.gov.

For more information, including the notice to start rulemaking (CR-101), please visit the rule webpage.

Washington — Nine insurers approved to sell 2027 health insurance plans to small businesses: Small businesses purchasing health insurance for their employees can choose from nine insurance companies for coverage in 2027.

The nine insurers requested an average rate increase of 16.5%. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner approved an average increase of 16.7%, based on an actuarial review of each company’s financial projections.

Most of the proposed rate increase is due to an increase in the basic cost of healthcare. Insurers base their rate changes partially on what they expect to happen to their costs in the future — like how many people they expect to cover, their age and their health status, and how much they expect the costs of health care services to increase.

“Despite the increase, it’s a positive sign that these small business owners have so many options for providing insurance for their employees,” Washington Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer said. “Our state has a competitive market, though as a country we need a more large-scale solution to address healthcare costs.”

All nine insurers also sold small group health plans for 2026. These plans are available for businesses with less than 50 employees, which are not legally required to offer health benefits.

The Insurance Commissioner is required by law to approve rate increases when insurance companies can prove the change is justified.

Health insurance premiums for employees are on the rise all across the country, according to KFF’s annual health benefits survey.

The average annual cost of premiums for an individual employee is $1,672, up 15.8% from last year ($1,408).

The average cost for a family is $7,471, up 9% from a year ago ($6,850).

Including the share paid by the employer, the total annual premiums for family health coverage now average $28,303 a year — a 5% increase from 2025.

See which insurers are selling small group health plans by county — https://bit.ly/3UZ7ZD3

See the list of all insurers — https://bit.ly/4AbfA0e