Multiple factors could affect the insurance industry in 2025 from regulations and politics to weather and climate change, as well as technologies like AI. Some risks can be mitigated and impacts of others will have to be managed. Brian O'Connell, an analyst at insuranceQuotes.com, joins us for an in-depth look at what's ahead for insurers, consumers and brokers in the property & casualty market.
Transcription:
Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio for the authoritative record.
Patti Harman (00:12):
Good afternoon and welcome to our Leaders session, What will 2025 look like in the insurance industry? I'm Patti Harman, editor-in-chief of Digital Insurance, and I'll be your host today. We're at the start of a new year with the promise of many opportunities as well as the wisdom gained from managing a variety of risks and challenges over the last 12 months and more. Already, there have been some recent changes in our country and their impact on the insurance industry remains to be seen. Here to discuss topics ranging from climate change and extreme weather events to the use of technology in the insurance industry and everything in between is Brian O'Connell, an analyst and writer at insurancequotes.com, and the author of the books, CNBC's Creating Wealth and the Career Survival Guide. Thank you so much for joining us today, Brian.
Brian O'Connell (01:10):
I was great to be here, Patricia. Thanks for having me.
Patti Harman (01:13):
So President Trump's inauguration was earlier this week. Are there any policies or appointments that he's proposing that you think could impact the insurance industry? And I'm thinking in terms of the tariffs that he's talked about or some of his environmental stances on things or even cyber and AI regulations.
Brian O'Connell (01:36):
It's a mishmash. There's going to be some things that the insurer is going to find more expensive and some things they'll probably find less expensive. In terms of specifics, Robert Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, is touted run HSS, and he's going to bring some changes to the table. The insurers aren't quite sure what they're going to see yet, but that would be an immediate concern, especially on any new health and regulatory compliance issues. I think that's going to be a big deal. I think it's going to be a big deal for the auto insurers because there's going to be a little more focus on technology and focus on policy and focus on what EV companies can do and can't do generally. Trump is a pro-business guy. He's a pro-business president. He was from 2016 to 2020. As for direct policies, y'all will see after these nominees hit their cabinet positions and policies start coming out in the next couple of months, we'll know a lot more. But in general, I think insurers are pretty happy with Trump if half the country isn't because he's a pro-business president who's going to try to bring the economy, reign in lower interest rates, which makes insurance companies very happy, it's easier to do business in a lower rate environment and I think that's something that Trump and his team want to see sooner rather than later. And I'm sure insurers would agree with that.
Patti Harman (03:03):
I would totally agree. I've looked at a couple of different studies and we actually just published one recently, and one of the factors that insurers and businesses in general were concerned about was the economy and how that is going to impact their companies going forward. Since insurance is regulated at the state level, how much of an impact do federal regulations have on different aspects of the industry and coverage? I'm thinking something may be related to cybersecurity because that affects everybody, but are there other regulations that could have an impact?
Brian O'Connell (03:43):
I think it's going to be another example of or a situation where Team Trump is loosening regulations and loosening compliance. Now, cybersecurity is a very unique industry and obviously we see news of data breaches all the time, so it's not going to be ignored. I'm not saying that at all. What I am saying is there actually should be intensified regulatory scrutiny from federal agencies and the state insurance commissioners and the state governments will take their cue from what Uncle Sam is saying and doing. And I think everybody's in agreement that tighter securities, both for consumers and for insurers, are going to be a plus priority for the administration. As far as cybersecurity goes, there's too much loss of data which impacts not only consumers directly through fraudsters and people who don't mean well and are doing bad things online, but it's also a governmental issue. Federal government issue for China and places like that, that there's always talk of misusing data and getting data in the hands of bad actors overseas as well.
(04:50):
So on one hand you say, well, of course a GOP Congress and a GOP president are going to be looser with the way insurance companies can run their businesses. They'll be more oversight. They more like an SEC situation in terms of cybersecurity because they want to make sure that the breaches are eliminated, security is tightened hard and fast, and make sure that insurers are doing everything they can and their consumers are doing everything they can to keep that safe. So that'll be funneled down from the intelligence agencies and places like that in Washington, DC and implemented on state levels. But I think there should be too much of a disparity between what states are going to do because again, everybody agrees the cybersecurity is an issue that has to be addressed sooner rather than later. So I think that it'll be a partnership, but I think it's going to start from the federal government down to the state government and a loan exception, well, one of the loan exceptions to Trump overseeing maybe a little more closely cybersecurity insurance and financial companies than he might other companies in other industries.
Patti Harman (06:08):
Interesting. And cyber attacks and bad actors that perpetrate them. It doesn't matter how well funded you are, how large your company is, everyone becomes a target in that instance.
Brian O'Connell (06:23):
Yeah, I mean, we've all been there as consumers and you find out your big bank or your big brokerage company, your big insurance company was hacked and you have that possibility. How is that possible? And what's funny is when you look into it from our side, from the analytical side, the insiders have these companies saying the same thing. They're like, Hey, we had this covered.
Brian O'Connell (06:41):
So, the problem with these fraudulent bad actors is they're a step ahead. The cyber criminals are basically a step ahead of what regulators are doing, and it takes for policy, it gets down to the federal level, then it gets down to the state level, and these guys are off and running. They got their data, they got their information and your bank accounts are cleaned out. So if anything, it's harder on consumers. But we also are seeing one last thing. We're seeing state governments, especially scrutinizing insurance applications much more closely with the partnership with the insurance companies. So the way that these applications are being structured and set up now are really focusing on harder measures and more discernible activity at the consumer level. Not to say consumers are conducting any breaches or any security issues like that. They just want to make sure that they know who you are. Your application is legit. But I think all 50 states are going to be working in harmony with Uncle Sam on this one to make sure that security is tighter, more closely monitored and keep this bad news away from the insurance industry and from consumers, frankly.
Patti Harman (07:51):
Yeah, I agree. I mean, you think about just attacks on the infrastructure and that happens regardless of where you are. So if you're looking at it from a state level, that's going to be just as important as looking at it from the federal level too.
Brian O'Connell (08:06):
Yeah, it depends where you get your cues. I don't want to go too further into this, but with technologies like AI, which is opening up so much, very true, the economy for businesses, but surely fraudulent actors and the cyber criminals have figured out ways to leverage AI to get into insurance company data centers and breaching data and taking it from customers. So we're at the very front of that as we are with the Trump administration coming in. But it's a lot on the plates for insurers right now.
Patti Harman (08:38):
Very true. Let's change tacks a little bit. It's a little early for the 2025 hurricane forecast, but are there trends or factors that you've been watching that concern you regarding weather-related risks?
Brian O'Connell (08:53):
Yeah, I'm not a weather person by any stretch of imagination, but LA is obviously going to be a big deal. I mean, I know that Hurricane season starts June one. I live in Puerto Rico as I mentioned earlier, and it's all that the people I'm down here professionals are talking about is like, what's it going to look like? So there's obviously implications for the property insurers, obviously for the auto insurers, and from the data we've seen, it's going to be no worse or no better. Don't hold me to that. It's very early on. You typically get what, 8, 9, 10 hurricane serious ones every year. And that's probably going to be the same going forward. It's just a matter of looking at the wildfires in California and now San Diego. These things happen so fast that you think you're prepared and state governments and federal agencies find out maybe we weren't as prepared as we thought we were.
(09:51):
So this may go back to what the new administration of Washington will do about funding FEMA. There's talk of Trump cutting budgets everywhere, right? Well, that would be huge mistake. Look what happens when they cut FEMA's budget, they had the issues of Western Carolina flooding there and then rolled over into LA and San Diego with the wildfires, and there wasn't enough money, frankly, to cover the work they had to do. And it's stuff to insurers, and I think the consumer even knows insurers are in over the heads right now and stuff like this on weather related events.
Patti Harman (10:24):
Yes. What role can climate risk analysis play in helping to educate homeowners about the factors that could affect their homes or how they can even reduce some of those risks? And we were talking about the wildfires. We've written a number of stories that there are certain things that homeowners can do to kind of reduce the risk. You're never going to be able to totally wipe it out, but there are some things that you can do to kind of mitigate or help minimize your exposure in some cases.
Patti Harman (10:58):
So, what role does that play then?
Brian O'Connell (11:00):
Well, I mean, just going to your point, we'll get into it more broadly in a minute, but I think that the owners out in LA and God bless them and hope everybody's doing okay, had listened earlier because the insurance industry is getting the word out there on climate induced activity. They're seeing obviously more and more serious hurricanes, floods, fires, things like that. So if you as a homeowner are insulating a house better, improving ventilation, installing stronger fire resistant roofs, things like that, that's good for consumers and the industry's trying to get that word out. Obviously they're the ones stuck paying the claims and the homeowner's even worse, ones stuck without a home. So more awareness is the call to arms in the insurance sector and how can you not as a consumer insurance consumer, not absorb that these days after what we're seeing in LA and Carolina and Florida and Texas, and obviously places outside the US too that are suffering from climate heightened events, weather events, right?
Patti Harman (12:05):
Yes. It's the same thing with in Florida and the southern states, building more hurricane-resistant houses so that when those storms come in, they have a half a chance of them still being there afterwards. All of that makes a difference.
Brian O'Connell (12:23):
That's a measure of state government oversight. I think Florida has done a good job. They've been forced to address this. Obviously they've had so many hurricanes that have decimated Tampa and Fort Myers and places like that in the last couple of years. We've all seen the news, but this thing, it takes time. Yes, on one hand, you can almost automatically mandate home builders to use more security, pardon me, more secure tools, carpentry work and the things that are going to make the home safer, more secure roofs, things like that.
But again, using Florida as a reference, a couple of years ago, they wanted older apartment buildings, the taller ones, the higher complexes to regulate themselves and wind up kicking a lot of people out of the houses because insurance rates went so sky high after the state mandated that. So they're trying to find a sweet spot between what could we do right now and we want to keep people in their homes. But unfortunately, rising property insurance costs are so high in places like Florida and California. They're running out of a room, they're running out of a room, they're like a football team backed up to the one inch line. They don't really have any place to go. So pretty smart people in the insurance industry are working with climate sensitive states like Texas or Florida, California to figure these things out. But what's come out of these states so far hasn't really worked. California's reinsurance program is a good example of that. People are either ignoring it or they took it too late or I've got a bargain basement plan and risk my house not going on fire and look how that turned out. Unfortunately, it's that situation.
Patti Harman (14:09):
Yes, very true. One of the other areas that we've seen a lot of changes is technology, especially with the use of AI and GenAI, and that seems to really be changing the insurance ecosystem in a variety of ways. How are they affecting areas like underwriting and claims and customer service then?
Brian O'Connell (14:31):
Well, I think they're making insurers more efficient. They're processing paperwork faster. They're using that term again, they're more discernible when they look at policy applications and weed out risks. They don't want to take things like that. So that's really been one of the places financial services in general where AI has made a huge difference, a huge difference for brokerage companies, insurance companies, A lot of the new FinTech firms coming out, we've all heard their names, making it easier for consumers to maybe not reach somebody on the phone quicker, but get an answer quicker through an AI bot about a policy question, things like that. But when you flip the coin, AI works so fast it's way ahead of regulators, and I know that this is something that Trump's nominees for the SEC and for the financial services industry and the CF PB are saying, we're looking at this right now. We've been looking out for the last two years on the Biden's administration. It's just the technology is moving so quickly that there is really not much in place to halt it. We talked about cyber criminals a minute ago, halting people like that or just keeping the technology so far to the consumer that they don't really understand how to use it correctly.
Patti Harman (15:55):
Or even some of the risks that are associated with using the technology, that sort of thing. So that makes it a little bit scary for them. Is the use of AI by businesses creating new types of risks to be managed or monitored, and what do they look like from your perspective?
Brian O'Connell (16:13):
We talked about cyber criminals and security risks. AI algorithms are moving so fast, they're so complicated. That's why insurers and financial services firms in general are bringing these engineers, these AI engineers in. They're stacking 'em. They're so high because they need all the help they can get. But that doesn't change the fact that there's things like usage risk, technology risk and security abuse systems via access to AI models, things like that. Internally, externally and just getting things wrong. AI is such a raw new gem. It's a gemstone, but it's still really not polished completely. So if you're relying on AI for all your informational needs as a consumer, it's for insurance company. It ain't there yet. It's just not happening yet. So that's going to take some time as well.
Patti Harman (17:06):
As a writer, I'm acutely aware that AI is still in development because there are so many times that I'm writing and AI is trying to change what I'm saying or what I'm doing. I'm like, AI, stop. That is not what I wanted to say. It's like you're not there yet. And it just really is amazing.
Brian O'Connell (17:25):
There's so many positive things that AI bring to the table for insurers. It's more precise for actuarial models, better underwriting practices, right, better risk management practices. But there's some flaws in the system. What did a sting say? Ghost to the machine back in the eighties? That song by sting and the police that they're going to have to root out. And that's why they're bringing these AI specialists in paying 'em 500,000 a year to figure it out. But meanwhile, businesses going on, they've already installed AI models, AI tools that insurers and consumers are sort of getting used to it. I'm a consumer. I'm using these things to get answers faster, maybe check policies across the board a little bit faster, but there's a lot of catching up to do and AI is moving so fast, it's making it harder for consumers and insurance to keep up.
Patti Harman (18:16):
We talked about this a little bit, but what kind of impact is the use of AI having on different lines of insurance and are you seeing it being adapted in certain lines like maybe life insurance or health insurance as opposed to maybe the P&C area?
Brian O'Connell (18:31):
Yeah, I think look at the auto industry. I think insurers are trying to save money on claims by getting policy holders to be safer drivers. And AI technology is in vehicles, it's on their websites and mobile apps they use to access their policies. It's much easier to get that information out. Now, that's a very good thing, obviously, because you want safer drivers and insurers want lower claims, less expensive claims. So that's one area. I think it's easier with AI, it's only going to get better and better to address these catastrophic modeling things. They run tests right on the wildfires and the hurricanes and the major insurers. Obviously the deep pockets, they've been doing that for a while. So that helps them with underwriting practices, making more precise and informative decisions, I think. And that's something I get better and better. I think you're seeing a bit of a weight imbalance in that technology is in the way I think for security and usage concerns on the higher end for consumers. And insurers still try to figure that out. But by and large, the information sharers are getting out of AI already is already paying off. So that imbalance is going to even out and then move up in direction of more positive news coming out of the insurance insurance industry using artificial intelligence and more financial modeling and things like that for their property policies or business policies. It's across the board. Healthcare information is king. Information is going to be a bigger king in two, three years. It's just a matter of figuring out how to do that.
Patti Harman (20:16):
And we've talked about this a little bit, but there have been some really significant benefits to the use of technology and in auto technology. So I just bought a new car and I was astounded at how much the technology had changed in the last 10 years. So how is technology changing the auto insurance space? Is it having an impact on the number and the severity of accidents and are there other factors that, are there other factors that are maybe creating risks too, like people being on their phones or talking while they're driving?
Brian O'Connell (20:55):
Well, we're looking at the future
(20:57):
In the present. There's plenty going on with AI uses and technology and vehicles, but you're already seeing the robo taxi at San Francisco. My best friend bought a cyber truck, God bless him. I don't know why, but he bought a cyber truck. It's crazy. If we go somewhere, we go for breakfast in the morning, he's not driving. It drives itself. So the technology is so advanced that I've been in a cyber truck nine or 10 times, I actually feel safe. And we on the analysis reporting side on our end are talking to the consumers, the test consumers for Tesla and some of these FinTech companies that are making the driverless robotic technologies robo drivers
(21:41):
And saying, yeah, the first time you get in, it's crazy, you don't trust it at all. But the 10th time, I'm not even thinking about it. So I think that's a really good significant benefit for the industry that it's just starting to inch in now. Right? And if you were asked the same question in three years, I'd say it's not much of a question because it's already happening. So that's got to obviously affect underwriting and how policies are created and influenced and applied. But right now it's I think a good marriage between AI and the auto sector. I'm not seeing as closely in the health insurance sector, maybe some of it in the home sector because we are seeing some pretty good stuff coming from these disasters in California and Florida recently in Texas, that it's easier to get to the root of the problem using AI than it was five, 10 years ago. It's just not as paper intensive. It never really was the last 20 years a paper intensive process, but it's completely digitized right now. And some of the safety features we talked about in cars a moment ago and some of the policy and implementation and information gathering services for property insurance is a good example. Or business I insurers hurt by hurricanes, floods, things like that. That's just getting better and better, stronger and stronger.
Patti Harman (22:56):
You're talking about the self-driving cars. I had the opportunity a couple of years ago, I was down at the IHS testing center in Northern Virginia and I had the opportunity to ride in an autonomous car and I remember them going, "don't touch the brake. Don't touch the brake, it's just going to go and it'll stop when it gets to the crosswalk." And there was a dummy there representing a person, and I couldn't help myself. I just couldn't trust that it would stop. And then there was another car that they were testing that did not stop and ran right into one of the walls, and that's probably been maybe five or six years ago. So the technology has come a long way in just those couple of years.
Brian O'Connell (23:42):
It really has going back 130 years, to Henry Ford's Model T and people riding horses, what they must have thought about these engine vehicles, a fossil fuel engine going down the street. I feel the same way. If somebody cuts you off and you're driving a driverless Tesla, you freak out. You just do. It's a fact of life. But the technology is amazing and averts it. I've seen it myself up close and personal. So we talk about safety features and cars. Obviously the most critical component of any engagement between a consumer and an auto insurer. But its just so much work that's going to go on. I mean, policy verification with automation is just happening in seconds now where it might've taken two or three days. Very true. Obviously saving lives is the most important thing you can do, but it should make the policy experience easier obviously for insurers and coming along more for consumers too.
Patti Harman (24:40):
Within the auto space, we've seen a rise in the number of electric and hybrid car vehicles too. Are there new risks that are associated with these vehicles and do they require either different types of coverage or other considerations from an insurance perspective?
Brian O'Connell (24:58):
I sure they're heavier. They do avoid accidents as we're talking about the cyber truck.
(25:06):
Probably say cost about 20 or 30% more, which insurance companies are taking a close look at the cost of EVs and particularly the cost of maintaining and repairing electric vehicles, which is prohibitive. So again, this is another area where the technology and the reality of covering drivers has got to be fleshed out. But since it costs more to buy and repair a vehicle, it's going to cost more to insure a vehicle. And I'm sure consumers are getting sick and tired of seeing their rates go up for homeowners policies, healthcare. We've all seen and done that and felt that, but with EVs it's going to be particularly onerous. So many more unknowns and so many more cost inputs that go into EVs that I insurers have to account for.
Patti Harman (25:57):
And that kind of leads into my next question, which is what challenges do you see ahead for the auto insurance market? And then the flip side of that is what opportunities does it have?
Brian O'Connell (26:08):
Well, there's going to be more drivers driving EV vehicles. I think. Don't quote this, but I think EV sales were up between 25 and 30% in 2024, which kind of surprised me because when you live day to day, the buzz is on. People aren't really absorbing EVs, that's not true. They are buying them. So there's going to be an opportunity for insurers to handle more business. But also you see companies like Tesla getting involved directly and insuring their drivers, and now they may be using third parties, but in five, 10 years, anybody knows Elon Musk knows he likes control. He's not going to give that up.
Brian O'Connell (26:46):
So, I think the risk for insurers is less business because there's too many competitors coming directly out of the ED sector and into the insurance sector saying, Hey, I can handle this. So even though ed owners can buy insurance from the same carriers we all know and love and use for years in five years, who knows. In the meantime, you can expect insurance companies to put riders in, offer you discounts and perks if you drive a EV that has safety features, that 1912 Buick, I mean, no offense to Buick owners, they have things like that. So again, it's a big sorting out process, but it's good news for consumers. There was more competition. Prices should go lower, but how much lower are they going to go when they go up 30% in the first place? Right?
Patti Harman (27:38):
That's true. Well, we were doing an article on how embedded insurance has become really important. So now people want to buy their insurance when they're buying their vehicle or some of their other major purchases. So I'm wondering if they will be as aware of the change in the cost if they're buying insurance at the same time they buy their vehicle.
Brian O'Connell (28:00):
Well, we always tell our consumers not to rent. The people we talk to and the people we write to that being informed can save you a lot of money. It's no different from going to 7-11 and paying five bucks for a bottle of Diet Coke where if you go to the big grocery store or go to Costco, you get it for two 50 ounce bottles or twice as much for five bucks. So it's the same idea. An informed consumer who goes and buys an EV, I don't know. I'm sure there's studies saying that people who make more money do this. I'm sure that's very true, but we are seeing the same thing you're talking about and they go and say, Hey, I want to get in now. I want to lock in that good rate now because it's only going to go up. And who can blame any consumer? Because all they've seen over the last several years is policy rates go up, up, up, up and across the board and healthcare and auto and business and property insurance, things like that.
Patti Harman (28:55):
So you have covered and written about the insurance industry for quite some time. Has anything surprised you in the lets say, five to 10 years, like a new risk or the rapid adoption of AI or the increase of cyber risks, those sorts of things? What has surprised you? I know I've been covering it for a while and there are a few things that have surprised me.
Brian O'Connell (29:20):
I see how fast AI happened, and I'm saying that as a consumer rather than somebody looked at this for a living, it's just been adapting has been difficult because things come at you so fast. We talked about that 10 minutes ago.
(29:33):
The evolution of natural disasters, climate risk is real. I mean, these things are getting more serious, more formidable, but easier to predict with ai, things like that. So forecasting technology is really improved, but obviously the wildfires are a great example of that. In LA they've had wildfires forever. In LA right now you can make the case, okay, better land management, clear the brush. We've heard all the arguments. I'm sure these are tactics that would work and maybe they weren't done enough, but the ferocity of these fires, the winds a hundred mile an hour winds in Palisades. In Malibu the first week of January or second week of January, excuse me. It is been incredible. I just can't fathom how fast that happens as well. So if weather events are going to get that serious, right, and that dangerous, there's only so much you can do, right? To protect yourself. So what I insurers are doing out of default is raising rates and pricing myself out of business. Some major carriers have left California, they can't afford to do business, leaving the state government to handle this. This is something I never would've anticipated 10, 15, 20 years ago.
(30:48):
But here we are today. So the game has changed primarily through rougher weather inflation over the last five years. Didn't help. We weren't ready for the pandemic obviously. So things got out of hand, things got more expensive. I didn't anticipate that coming. If you had to ask me that in 2019 that rates would be this high just based on year to year policy evaluation activity that we said, no, it won't be. It might go up two, 3% a year like we've always seen. Now they're going up 10, 15% a year. And in rough states like rough weather, states like California going up by 25, 30%. That's crazy. I did not see any of that coming.
Patti Harman (31:32):
Is there anything that concerns you about the insurance industry going forward?
Brian O'Connell (31:37):
The cybersecurity issue comes to mind right off the bat. Data is so valuable. We didn't have these data issues in 1985, 95, as recently even as 2005. But data is so easy to illegally retrieve and offers such a treasure chest of opportunities for these pirates to come in and steal it so your life can be ruined in a day. We've all, I don't know, I had experience on a financial payment slide, I won't mention it. I don't give anybody a bad publicity, but to see my money go away that fast through a cyber thief, we use my social security number, my home address, things like that, that worries me. So we talked earlier about playing defense against cybersecurity. Hope someday soon we can be playing offense because this problems only going to get worse, right? Technology can only do so much. Insurers can only do so much. So that scenario worries me greatly.
Patti Harman (32:35):
What opportunities do you see for the carriers and the insurance industry going forward?
Brian O'Connell (32:41):
Well, technology is going to open up so many things. It's going to lower their cost of doing business. I hope there's not a lot of layoffs. I don't see a lot of layoffs so far. You see some in the financial sector, but with automation handling paperwork tasks that people used to do in the back office 10, 15, 20 years ago, policy reviews, underwriting questions being answered, things like that. Compliance and regulatory issues, that's all automated already. So you got the savings, what are you going to do? Well, they're going to plow it into more research and plow it into better policies, plowed into better managers, plowed in more powerful teams that are empowered now to do things that they weren't empowered to do before. So inside insurance companies, I think employees who are free to use their minds to really make a difference in consumers lives, they have an opportunity. So technology right off the bat, it's so powerful and so amazing right now, especially with AI and financial modeling and machine learning, things like that, that consumers are only scratching the surface because we're starting to use this two years in. I think open AI came out in late 2022.
(33:53):
But insurers have been there ahead of time a little bit, and they're already using this to improve customer service, improve the customer engagement, and that's something that's definitely a positive for the insurance industry and for customers obviously too. I
Patti Harman (34:08):
Agree. I have spoken to a lot of insurance companies and just about everybody I've spoken to has said that one of the main reasons that they want to invest in technology is because they want to improve the customer experience for their policy holders and for their claimants and everybody. That is their number one priority for a lot of this. We've covered a lot over the last half hour or so. Is there anything I haven't asked you that you think is important for our audience to know?
Brian O'Connell (34:38):
Yeah, I think the great American consumer should pay attention to what's going on in Washington. Obviously the difference between a Biden administration and the Trump administration. I'm not political at all. I'm just talking on a regulatory policy writing front. The relationship that the industry and obviously their lobbyists are going to have with the decision-makers in Washington, DC, federal and state insurance policies going to come out of these talks in these conversations. What kind of policies will Mr. Kennedy implement? What kind of policies will we see out of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if it survives? Things like that. So the dance between big government and big business and insurance surely is a big business, is always a precursor to what we're going to see two years from now, just like technology. So I'd keep my eyes on that and I would also be looking at my policy because it's easier to do faster to read through ai, things like that. Things you could do as a consumer that are much better than they were two, three years ago using again, AI in particular.
Patti Harman (35:48):
Yes, very true. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Brian, and for sharing your insights on some of the factors that are going to affect the insurance industry in 2025. I want to thank our audience for joining us today, and please join us for our next Leaders session when we take a look at how insurers are attracting new talent and retaining and upskilling their current staffs. I'm Patti Harman for Digital Insurance and please enjoy the rest of your afternoon.
