South Carolina lawmakers tackle soaring insurance costs

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA) – South Carolina lawmakers are addressing skyrocketing insurance costs that are threatening people, their businesses, and their homes. Lawmakers are now working with insurance companies to try and find solutions.

“It was incumbent upon these companies to tell us what’s driving those calls to go up,” said Representative and Chair of the Committee Gary Brewer (R – Charleston). “What’s making that happen because they, you know, they go through the insurance department on trying to get their rates either raised or lowered.”

The meeting lasted over more than five hours, as lawmakers put their heads together to try to figure out how to lower insurance premiums for homeowners, business owners, and individual rate payers.

“We can’t guarantee, but if you look at history, what happened in West Virginia, what’s happened in Florida, what’s probably going to happen in Georgia and ultimately in Louisiana, it does have a positive downward pressure on,” said Jim Dodrill from Progressive.

“You’re asking us to do all these changes here but yet you can’t guarantee me that the premiums are going to go down. Why the heck are we sitting here in the first place?” said Representative Jermaine Johnson (D – Kershaw). “Why are you telling me all this information to change something if you can’t even give me a return on my investment.”

Brewer said the goal of these meetings are to create a bill that would lower cost factors for South Carolinians and focus on other findings they see in these meetings. He said he wants this bill to passed in 2026.

“We have this committee, and we plan to put legislation together,” Brewer said. “The whole goal of this legislation is to create an environment that will put downward pressure on their rates, so their rates will come down.”

He added that the committee is trying to figure out why some companies can drop their rates, and some can’t.

“If we have a good insurance environment where we’re getting more and more companies in there, it’ll allow them to compete with each other in the free market, to go after each other to help lower our rates, which helps small businesses,” Brewer said.

This is only a piece in the puzzle and the committee will keep meeting to try to solve these problems for South Carolinians.