Catastrophe, resilience, automation, digital transformation, personalization of the claims experience, talent strategies, operational flexibility—there are a mouthful of trends to talk about in the still-young year.
A new report from Crawford & Company forecasts trends that will be reshaping the insurance claims industry the rest of 2026. The Crawford report offers nine predictions for what lies ahead in claims.
The increasing impact of AI on claims is the center of one of the report’s predictions.
“As AI drives more claims automation, we will see more straight-through processing of low complexity claims in 2026,” said report co-author Joel Raedeke, senior vice president, U.S. technology for Crawford.
Increasingly sophisticated AI technology makes it likely that some of these simpler claims “will pass through all decision gates to auto-approval” without any human adjuster involvement. The prediction also foresees adjuster training shifting to a need for “AI literacy, interpretability and judgment in direct use of AI.”
According to a recent report from Sedgwick, using AI to handle low-severity claims has led to 80% faster processing times for some carriers. However, few carriers use AI at more than a small scale— and the vast majority of adjusters say need AI needs human oversight, according to that report.
Crawford’s first prediction is that the industry, regulators, and insurance consumers will be more proactive in response to larger and more severe natural disasters, such as the L.A. wildfires in January 2025, which drove numerous changes to California insurance regulations as carriers sought rate hikes or withdrew from writing in the state.
The report authors see more support across the industry, increased efforts to educate homeowners and contractors, and more funding and funding mechanisms for resilience and preparedness. That includes endorsements for things like covering a percentage of the cost to replace a roof with a resilient shingle, loans or grants to help homeowners pay for upgrades, and private financing.
The report also predicts the development of new approaches to coverage. This year, AI will impact policy pricing and claims processing “as the ability to store, compile and analyze large amounts of data drives increased customization throughout the policy lifecycle,” said the report.
Innovation and change are themes in several of the report’s predictions. In 2026, medical and indemnity cost severity will continue to rise faster than frequency falls.
“Expect to see a healthy mix of captives and traditional insurance products bubble to the surface to address the resulting medical and indemnity market needs,” the report added.
Crawford’s other predictions:
- “New regulation will drive the claims industry to re-examine how speed and accuracy are balanced in post-disaster recovery.”
- “Data-driven transparency into adjuster performance will become table stakes for TPAs.”
- “An uptick in cyber regulation will drive more activity and associated expenses from panel providers.”
- “A shift in the market cycle will put pressure on captives in 2026, possibly bringing organizations back to the traditional market.”
- “2026 will test the industry’s agility in preparing for what can’t yet be predicted.”
Photo: Generated by AI
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