On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute talk with Michael Caljouw, the state commissioner of insurance. They discuss new regulations for insurers, concerns about the stability and solvency of the Massachusetts health insurance system, and insurer consolidation.
insurance
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. insurer of last resort wrestles with thorny questions around affordability
Now, after the FAIR Plan saw its largest single-year jump in 2024 in new enrollees in two decades, the plan will need to decide this year whether it wants to raise the rates it charges — something that hasn’t happened in 20 years.
Posted inExplainer
What is the Massachusetts FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort?
The increased FAIR Plan policies and rising home insurance prices in the private market across New England both reflect and tell the climate story, since insurers are the arbiters of risk.
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. home insurer of last resort sees spike in enrollment
Massachusetts’s home insurance market, officials and experts stressed, is in a much better place than other parts of the country. Still, signs of change are emerging.
Posted inEnvironment
Boston missed its own deadline for applying to a FEMA program. Residents are footing the bill.
Across Massachusetts, more than 300 communities – including Boston – aren’t reaping the benefits of the FEMA program, known as Community Rating System. It’s led to residents in some municipalities collectively paying hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in flood insurance costs that could have been avoided.