Berkshire Hathaway business insurance

Overview

Berkshire Hathaway is not one insurance company but a holding company that owns a dozen separately managed ones, and business buyers usually meet it under another name. The group ranked No. 4 among U.S. business insurers by 2025 commercial lines direct premiums written, with $18.64 billion, based on NAIC market share data, a 3.8% share. It is the country's largest writer of medical professional liability, second in fire, third in other liability (general liability, umbrella and most other casualty), commercial auto and allied property lines, sixth in workers' comp and eighth in aviation.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a public company (NYSE: BRK.A and BRK.B) based in Omaha, Nebraska. Gregory E. Abel became CEO on January 1, 2026, succeeding Warren Buffett, who remains chairman; Ajit Jain is vice chairman of insurance operations. Besides GEICO and the reinsurance businesses (General Re, TransRe and National Indemnity's reinsurance), Berkshire's 2025 annual report lists these primary commercial insurers, which it calls the Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group:

• Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI), Boston: property, casualty, executive and professional lines, healthcare liability, transactional, surety and marine for mid-size and large accounts. See Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance.
• NICO Primary, Omaha: commercial auto and general liability through National Indemnity Company, admitted and E&S.
• Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies (BHHC), Omaha: workers' comp, commercial auto and property, including first-dollar and deductible comp nationwide.
• MedPro Group, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and MLMIC in New York: medical, dental and healthcare facility liability.
• GUARD Insurance Companies, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: small and mid-sized business through agents. See Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies.
• Berkshire Hathaway Direct (biBERK), Stamford, Connecticut: small business coverage sold online. See biBERK.
• U.S. Liability Insurance (USLI), Wayne, Pennsylvania: low-premium specialty and E&S business through agents.
• RSUI and CapSpecialty: specialty property, umbrella and excess, D&O, professional and general liability through wholesalers, agents and MGAs.

History

Berkshire's insurance business began in 1967, when Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, then a New England textile company, bought National Indemnity of Omaha. Over the following decades it added GEICO, General Re and a string of specialty insurers, using the float (premiums held before claims are paid) to fund investments across the economy. The most recent large insurance deal was Alleghany, acquired in October 2022, which brought RSUI, CapSpecialty and TransRe into the group.

The leadership transition is the big recent change. In May 2025 Berkshire's board named Abel to succeed Buffett as CEO effective January 1, 2026. Abel's first shareholder letter, dated February 28, 2026, credits Jain with building the insurance operation and says the group will "walk away when the price is wrong."

Business insurance products

What you can buy depends on which Berkshire unit you approach:

• Very small businesses can buy direct from biBERK: workers' comp, a business owner's policy (see What is a business owner's policy (BOP)?), general liability, professional liability, commercial auto, umbrella and cyber. GUARD offers BOPs, commercial auto, umbrella and excess, general liability and inland marine, and workers' comp through agents. USLI specializes in low-premium, low-hazard risks: commercial, hospitality and liquor, professional, nonprofit and special events coverage.
• Mid-size businesses get comp, auto and property from BHHC, auto and liability from NICO Primary, and specialty lines from BHSI.
• Large and hard-to-place risks go to BHSI, which writes primary and excess policies on admitted and non-admitted paper, and to RSUI and CapSpecialty for E&S property and casualty. Nearly 90% of BH Primary's 2025 premium was in the U.S., and about 40% of that was written on a non-admitted basis.
• Healthcare is MedPro's territory: physicians, surgeons, advanced practice clinicians, dentists, chiropractors, hospitals and senior care facilities. MedPro says it was founded by physicians in 1899 and protects more than 300,000 insureds.

Who it insures

The range runs from a one-person consultant buying professional liability online to a large company's excess casualty tower. The group leans toward liability and auto: NICO Primary's premiums rose 13% in 2025, mainly in commercial auto, after auto-driven growth at NICO Primary and BHHC in 2024, and the group, led by MedPro, is the country's largest medical malpractice insurer by premium. Healthcare practices (Medical practice insurance, Dental practice insurance) and nonprofits are well covered by specific units.

Appetite is not uniform, and it has been shrinking in places. GUARD's written premiums fell 32.6% in 2025, with volume cuts in personal lines, BOPs and workers' comp, as it exited unprofitable business and tightened underwriting. RSUI wrote less property in 2025. If you are a GUARD policyholder, ask your agent early about renewal.

How to buy

There is no single Berkshire Hathaway quote page. biBERK is the unit that sells business insurance direct, online and by phone (MLMIC also sells direct to New York medical professionals). GUARD, BHHC, NICO Primary and USLI work through independent agents (USLI and GUARD also through wholesale brokers), and BHSI, RSUI and CapSpecialty mostly through brokers, wholesalers and MGAs. For anything beyond a small, simple account, an agent or broker who is appointed with the relevant unit is the practical route; check that the quote names the specific Berkshire company, since admitted and surplus lines terms differ.

Claims

Each unit runs its own claims operation and phone lines. BHSI takes claims 24 hours a day at 855-453-9675 or by mail to its Atlanta claims office. BHHC takes workers' comp, auto and property claims online through its policyholder site. GUARD and MedPro offer online claim reporting from their websites, and biBERK customers report claims through biBERK. Look at your declarations page for the issuing company and report to that unit, not to the Omaha holding company.

Financial strength and ratings

Berkshire's 2025 annual report, dated February 2026, says its major insurance subsidiaries are rated A++ (Superior) by AM Best and AA+ by S&P for financial strength. BHSI's website states that National Indemnity and its affiliates, including BHSI, carry those ratings, and MedPro advertises A++ from AM Best. Not every unit shares the top rating: GUARD's website displays an AM Best rating of A+ (Superior). The combined statutory surplus of Berkshire's U.S. insurers was about $333 billion at the end of 2025.

Berkshire reported a combined ratio of 87.1% across its property and casualty businesses in 2025. The commercial primary group ran hotter, at 95.8%, with about $190 million of adverse prior-year development that Berkshire attributed to social inflation in liability claims. In September 2024, National Indemnity agreed to pay $535 million to the bankruptcy estate of certain non-insurance affiliates to settle claims against it; the court's approval of that settlement was still pending at the time of the annual report.

Strengths and weaknesses

Berkshire's paper is about as strong as it gets, and its managers have a stated willingness to give up volume rather than cut price. For buyers, that means dependable claims-paying capacity but a market that can tighten, unit by unit, when pricing softens. Berkshire's own letter says its primary insurers expect "continued headwinds in 2026, and potentially beyond."

• Strengths: A++ (Superior) from AM Best and AA+ from S&P for its major insurers (per the February 2026 annual report) and about $333 billion of U.S. statutory surplus; No. 1 in medical professional liability through MedPro; options at every size, from biBERK's direct online policies to BHSI's large-account and multinational capacity; strong in commercial auto and general liability.
• Weaknesses: No single point of contact; each unit has its own appetite, systems and phone numbers; GUARD cut 2025 premiums by about a third and carries A+ rather than A++; adverse liability reserve development in 2025 and an explicit willingness to shrink in soft markets mean appetite can change at renewal.

How to contact Berkshire Hathaway