California's insurance market is at a breaking point. Policies are being canceled, premiums are skyrocketing, and entire neighborhoods are finding it nearly impossible to secure coverage. On a recent episode of The Insurance Hour, host Karl Susman tackled this issue head-on, inspired by an open letter from several California legislators to Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara.
The letter — co-signed by Congressman John Garamendi and others — called attention to the "chaos" in the state's insurance market and urged the Commissioner to stabilize rates and require carriers to provide affordable coverage across all regions. But as Susman points out, while the letter identifies the problem, it doesn't present a solution.
And that, he argues, is where the conversation must begin: not just with complaints or political sound bites, but with practical, data-driven strategies to fix a system that's been straining for years.
Susman begins by cutting through the noise: "Insurance is not complicated," he says. "It's just math."
That may sound overly simple, but it's true. Insurance pricing is a mathematical balancing act — premiums must be high enough to cover claims and operating costs, but low enough to attract customers and comply with regulatory constraints. When either side of that equation falters, the system breaks down.
In California, the breakdown is severe. Over the past several years, carriers have withdrawn from writing new policies, citing unmanageable losses from wildfires, floods, and other extreme weather events. As of 2025, nearly 87% of insurers in the state have restricted or stopped writing new business altogether.
Why? Because the numbers don't add up. Between rising claim costs and outdated regulatory models, insurers can't charge rates that reflect actual risk — and they're unwilling (and often legally unable) to operate at a loss.
Susman summarizes it bluntly: "If you collect $1,000 and you pay out $1,200, at some point that game's going to run out."
Susman reminds listeners that California's crisis isn't occurring in isolation. The nation as a whole is experiencing a surge in weather-related losses.
As he explains, "Right now, there are 478,962 emergency responders working on 6,545 wildfires in California." Those fires, along with 25 separate billion-dollar weather disasters across the U.S. this year alone, have put unprecedented pressure on the insurance industry.
Extreme heat, record rainfall, tropical storms, and megafires are driving payouts higher than ever. Even states not traditionally prone to such risks — like Missouri, Kentucky, and Arizona — are seeing billion-dollar events.
"This isn't political," Susman says. "It's just math. The weather is creating significantly higher payouts that the insurance industry is ...
