Las Vegas, San Miguel County, New Mexico: Lawmaker Previews Insurance Bill on October 28 to Scrutinize Insurers' 'Catastrophe Models' and Give Premium Discounts to Homeowners Who Mitigate Risk
State Rep. Anita Gonzales of Las Vegas, in San Miguel County, New Mexico, on October 28 previewed a bill before the interim Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee that aims to shed light on the 'catastrophe models' insurers use to decline renewals or raise premiums. Gonzales said that in recent years, more homeowners in wildfire-prone areas have had policies canceled or faced premium increases, while the complex models insurers rely on are not public, leaving homeowners with no way to understand why they lost coverage. Under the previewed bill, insurers would be required to provide homeowners with more information about how they evaluate wildfire risk, give premium discounts to homeowners who have taken established risk-reduction steps, and provide a way to appeal determinations homeowners believe are in error. Christian Myers, chief actuary for the state Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, acknowledged at the meeting that the risk-assessment systems insurers use for pricing remain largely a 'black box'; such models typically simulate thousands of wildfire or other disaster scenarios to estimate average expected losses in particular ZIP codes and consider payouts in a once-in-a-1,000-year extreme scenario. Gonzales said New Mexico homeowners deserve to understand how insurers make decisions affecting their coverage, especially when a decision could cost them their insurance. The bill is planned to be formally introduced at the upcoming legislative session.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 资料图：美国国会大厦（立法机构资料图，非新墨西哥州议会大厦），来源为GSM固定图库federal-core包（Wikimedia Commons：New Mexico State Capitol, Santa Fe, New Mexico.jpg，授权 CC BY-SA 2.0，作者 Ken Lund）
