Insurance Agencies & Brokerages NAICS 524210

Sep 26, 2025 - Reconciliation Bill Could Force Rural Hospital Closures

• About 300 rural hospitals face possible closure due to Medicaid cuts in the 2025 budget reconciliation bill, according to an analysis by the Cecil G. Scheps Center. More than 20% of Americans live in rural areas where Medicaid covers 1 in 4 adults, per non-profit KFF, and those hospitals have long operated on thin margins as Medicaid increasingly fails to cover their costs. The American Hospital Association says that in 2023 rural hospitals already received $28 billion less from Medicaid than the cost to treat patients. The reconciliation bill cuts a program that helps states fund Medicaid payments to healthcare providers, and despite a provision that offers up to $50 billion for five years to offset the cuts, rural hospitals have sounded the alarm that it is not enough. About 36 states will lose $1 billion or more in rural hospital Medicaid funding because of the bill, according to KKR.
• The insurance industry is entering a pivotal moment as AI and automation reshapes operations, all while a massive workforce shift looms. Nearly 400,000 insurance pros are set to retire by 2026, and younger generations show little interest in traditional insurance roles. At the same time, banks and fintechs are competing aggressively for AI talent. Insurers reframe this challenge as an opportunity by investing in career-aligned education that builds AI fluency across roles, from claims representatives to underwriters and data specialists. Insurance’s well-defined career paths allow companies to design structured learning pipelines, helping employees progress into analytics, compliance, and model governance roles while preserving institutional knowledge. By pairing new tech skills with clear advancement opportunities, insurers can build trust in AI, strengthen compliance, and attract digitally skilled talent.

• Employment at insurance agencies and brokerages stayed relatively flat so far this year, growing only 2% year over year in June 2025, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. A new study from The Jacobson Group and Aon shows that 81% of insurance companies expect to grow revenue this year, but only 53% plan to hire more staff during the same period. In addition, 33% of companies said they would maintain the same staff levels this year, while 14% plan to actually decrease staff. Technology and AI integration is displacing some employees by taking over the heavy lifting of tasks such as claims processing and risk analysis. The industry has also relied heavily on raising premium rates for growth, rather than adding new policy holders, particularly in the property and casualty segment. Those factors also contribute to stagnant employment growth when policy numbers remain flat.
• The homeowners insurance market will have a difficult 2025, with S&P Global Market Intelligence forecasting losses for the seventh time in nine years. Homeowners insurance lines are projected to finish the year with a 106.1% combined ratio (an industry metric of how many dollars an insurer spends on claims versus what they take in in premiums). California wildfires in January are incurring significant industry losses, so much so that it is offsetting underwriting gains in private auto insurance (forecast at a 95.1% combined ratio). State Farm has incurred the majority of losses from the wildfires, and its $6.57 billion bill from California could account for as much as a four point gain in the combined ratio for the entire industry. State Farm has already raised rates to compensate, even as it is slow to process claims, sparking a backlash among its customers and insurance regulators.