Regulator Objections Quantified: ZestyAI Says 44% of Filings Have at Least One

ZestyAI said it looked at tens of thousands of home, auto, and commercial property rate filings in all 50 states and found just how long regulator objections can hold up the approval process. About 44%, or 8,776, of filings analyzed drew at least one objection from a state regulator, adding a median of 38 days to the approval process and delaying an insurer’s application for what it thinks is an adequate rate. “Every month a filing sits in objection is a month the carrier is writing business at a rate it has already demonstrated is inadequate,” Bryan Rehor, senior director of regulatory and government affairs at ZestyAI, told Insurance Journal. “That cost doesn’t disappear, it compounds. A nine percent indication that stalls for a year becomes a fifteen percent indication, and the policyholder who could have absorbed a modest change instead gets rate shock. Delay doesn’t spare consumers from increases. It makes them larger, later, and harder to explain.” ZestyAI looked at more than 20,183 approved rate filings in all 50 states and Washington D.C. over 12 months ending May 8 this year. Its “Approval Velocity 2026” report showed homeowners is the most contested line, with a 53.2% objection rate, followed by personal auto (50.7%) and commercial property (34.3%). Most objections follow recurring patterns and can be predictable or even avoidable, ZestyAI added. In fact, the state has more to do with approval times than the line of business for which the insurer is applying for an adjustment. But that dynamic has a domino effect, said Rehor. “Filing delays don’t stay in the state where they happen,” he said. “Rate revisions run on a fixed implementation calendar, so when one state slips, it consumes the release slot the next state was supposed to occupy. A single prolonged objection cycle in one jurisdiction routinely delays actuarially indicated changes in three or four others that never raised a question at all.” California and New York led among the states with the slowest approvals across all lines. Maryland ranked high for slowness in personal auto and commercial property. New Jersey was slowest for homeowners. Wisconsin was the fastest in each lines, with South Dakota, Alabama, New Mexico, and Arkansas also coming in with fast approval times. The answer for insurers, according to ZestyAI, has been filing “simpler” rate applications that will clear regulator scrutiny quicker. However, that can result in less accurate rates. The property risk analytics platform said it is possible to prepare a quality filing to avoid objections. “Knowing what regulators are likely to ask before filing, and answering those questions in the original submission, can reduce avoidable follow-up and bring products to market weeks or months sooner,” Rehor added in a statement. Catastrophe-exposed states have a stronger focus on hurricane-model vendor disclosure, catastrophe-model documentation, and other compliance. A state that may be considered consumer-focused looks more at how rate changes affect individual policyholders. Here, filing packages need to explain how rate change affect individuals, not just the show the overall rate change. Was this article valuable? Here are more articles you may enjoy.