The Ticker

Starts rulemaking based on the state’s new Travel Insurance Act, covering producer licensing, rate and form filings, and marketing and advertising. The rules also create a “travel administrator” category for entities that sell travel insurance.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directs the Department of Insurance to pursue measures aimed at addressing homeowners insurance premiums, which have increased 79% since 2020 in the state. His directives include banning price optimization in setting prices, barring policy rejections or non-renewals due to property age, requiring insurers to consider FORTIFIED roof certification when setting rates, and establishing an insurance fraud task force.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey names Chuck Myers as chief deputy commissioner, effective Oct. 1. Myers takes over from Jackie Obusek, who is retiring after three decades with the department. Myers joins from the Louisiana Department of Insurance, where he spent three and a half years as deputy commissioner overseeing property and casualty. He also worked at the Virginia Bureau of Insurance and Virginia State Police.

Reaccredits the insurance departments of Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, and the District of Columbia. State insurance regulators undergo the accreditation process on a five-year basis to assess their financial oversight of insurance companies. >> Hires Jeff Ahlers as chief financial officer. Ahlers previously was corporate controller at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, where he worked for more than six years. He also held financial roles at Hostess and other companies. >> Puts a proposed residential mitigation grant program model act out for public comment through Sept. 8 following its Summer National Meeting in Columbus, Ohio. The voluntary framework would give states a model for administering mitigation grant programs across different perils.

Announces average 2027 health insurance rate increases in the state of 14.8% for the individual market and 13.5% for the small employer market. The numbers are below the percentages sought by insurers (16.8% and 15.7%, respectively) and in line with the 15% median increase sought nationally, according to KFF.

The Department of Insurance has requested permission from a state court to take over management of the Idaho School Benefit Trust (ISBT), a self-funded health plan for Idaho school districts. The Trust faces a funding shortfall exceeding $13 million for the 2025–2026 plan year, which it attributed to elevated medical and dental claims that now require additional contributions from member districts. The department said that “continuation of ISBT’s current operations has been deemed hazardous to the public and to holders of its certificates.” The state Code allows for rehabilitation or liquidation of insolvent self-funded health plans; the department aims to rehabilitate the program.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara says more than 64,000 policyholders in Calaveras, San Joaquin, Amador, Tuolumne, and Stanislaus counties are protected from insurance cancellations and non-renewals for one year after the Gann Fire, following an Aug. 6 emergency declaration from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). The protection extends for the first time to certain commercial properties, including homeowners associations, apartment complexes, and senior living facilities after the Business Insurance Protection Act passed into law last year.

Mary-Coleman Roberts became chief PBM regulatory counsel for the Department of Insurance’s Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Compliance Division on Aug. 1. Her earlier state government roles included general counsel for the Department of Corrections, where she previously served as assistant attorney general, and staff attorney for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. >> Thomas McCarthy, who also worked for the Corrections Department, now serves as senior PBM regulatory counsel within the same Department of Insurance division.