Property and casualty (P&C) insurance companies have outspent health and life insurance peers in lobbying the U.S. government over the past 10 years, according to an S&P Global article. 

In 2023, P&C insurers spent approximately $57.2 million on lobbying, while health insurance spent about $49.2 million and life insurance about $31.1 million, the article says. 

Recent media reports also claim the P&C industry has seen a $4.1 billion net underwriting gain for the first nine months of 2024 after raising annual car insurance premiums by 26%, on average, nationally. 

Allstate and State Farm are among the largest lobbying funders in the insurance industry, S&P Global says. It says data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) shows Allstate spent $5.02 million and State Farm $5.33 million on lobbying in 2023. 

State Farm was approved to raise auto insurance rates in California by an average of 17.7% starting at the end of January, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

About 4 million customers will be impacted by the rate increase approved by the California Department of Insurance, the article says. 

The insurance company, and the largest insurer in the state, increased rates by 21% in February. 

Other insurance companies including GEICO, Nationwide, and AAA have filed for large rate increases, according to the newspaper. 

The Los Angeles Times reports that Allstate received approval for a rate increase of 30%, on average, in February after temporarily pausing the sale of new auto insurance in the state late last year. 

Allstate CEO and President Tom Wilson threatened to drop insurance customers in California, New York, and New Jersey in November 2023 if he didn’t receive a double-digit rate increase in all three states. 

Days after making the statement, Allstate announced that the states would approve the requested increases. 

Allison Adey, a legislative advocate for the Personal Insurance Federation in California, told S&P Global that lobbyists in the state focus on different “hot topics” every year. She said the key issue right now is “bringing the market back to a healthy place.” 

The article notes that insurers report lobbying expenditures in their annual regulatory statements filed with NAIC. However, it says questions remain about how precise the reporting is as sources can vary greatly. S&P Global says it also reviewed data collected through OpenSecrets and California regulatory filings. 

“Limitations and divergences within the available lobbying data cast a shadow over the goal of mandated reporting if the intent of making insurers report this information is to boost transparency,” the article says. “For example, while State Farm declared $5.33 million in lobbying expenditure for 2023 in its annual regulatory statements, the figure the insurer gave in its California filing was $5.93 million. In addition, Allstate declared $5.02 million in lobbying expenditure for 2023 in its annual regulatory statements, but the figure the insurer gave in its California filing was $4.44 million.”

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