Don't expect 2017 to be much easier for insurers.

The pilot of a hot-air balloon that crashed last summer in Texas, killing himself and 15 sight-seeing passengers, had taken a cocktail of prohibited drugs before liftoff including the opiate pain-killer oxycodone.

Insurer will have to comply with insurance commissioner's Dec. 13 deadline to cut homeowner and renter charges.

With Republicans controlling both houses of Congress, the insurance industry is cautiously optimistic of the passage of a Dodd-Frank rollback bill and Wall Street reform.