Big I New York Regional Director Eileen Frank and Assistant Vice President of Government Relations, Travis Wattie, recently participated in a series of Affordability Roundtables hosted by the New York State Senate Republican Conference. Their goal: help lawmakers better understand how insurance works and highlight practical reforms to address New Yorkers’ growing affordability challenges.
During the Manhattan roundtable, Eileen Frank used a simple but powerful visual to explain the basics of insurance. Holding up a cup, she described premiums as what goes in and claim payments as what comes out. Insurance, she emphasized, is pooled risk—a modern extension of neighbors helping neighbors. But when claims are inflated or excessive, the cup empties, forcing insurers to raise rates to remain solvent.
Frank also underscored the strain caused by New York’s outdated labor laws, noting that the market for certain types of coverage has shrunk so dramatically that only a handful of insurers remain willing to write these policies.
Travis Wattie, speaking in Rochester, expanded on the factors driving insurance premiums, breaking them into two “buckets.”
- The first includes broad economic pressures such as higher labor and material costs, increased vehicle and home values, and more advanced (and expensive) safety technology.
- The second bucket consists of legal system abuse and fraud, which continue to place an outsized burden on New York policyholders.
Wattie spotlighted a timely opportunity: improving the Third-Party Litigation Financing bill that will soon go before the Governor. He urged lawmakers to support a chapter amendment adding essential disclosure requirements to strengthen the bill and curb abusive litigation practices. He also addressed New York’s Labor Law 240/241 (the Scaffold Law), noting the severe lack of market capacity for this coverage and its direct impact on affordability for homeowners, renters, businesses, and public entities across the state.
Listen to their remarks here:
Rochester:
Manhattan: