Huge losses from national disasters have prompted the industry to jack up prices and pull back from some markets.
Huge losses from national disasters prompt industry to jack up prices and pull back from some markets; ‘worst possible scenario’ for consumers
After Allstate suffered billions of dollars in losses and failed to get the rate increases it wanted, it resorted to the nuclear option.
The insurance giant threatened last fall to stop renewing auto insurance for customers in three states that hadn’t given in to its demands, which would have left those policyholders scrambling for coverage. The states blinked.
In December, New Jersey approved auto rate increases for Allstate averaging 17%, and New York, a 15% hike. Regulators in California are allowing Allstate to boost auto rates by 30%, but still haven’t decided on its request for a 40% increase in home-insurance rates after the insurer refused to write new policies.
For many Americans, getting insurance for both their cars and homes has gone from a routine, generally manageable expense to a do-or-die ordeal that can strain household budgets.
Maybe it's time for a state to start a nonprofit insurance fund? Insurance companies exist only for profit, which is antithetical to the point of insurance.
This doesn't address the core issue, that the math simply doesn't work in several places. Even ignoring profit, at the very least, you have to balance your payouts with your premium revenue, and if your payouts are so high that premiums must be higher than what people can afford, then you're toast.
Or you invoke government subsidies, in which case it's essentially a tax to subsidize people's poor decision making. At the end of the day, living in an area extremely prone to fires or flooding has real costs, and either somebody pays them, whether that be the individual, an insurance pool, or the government, or you simply stop incurring the cost by moving somewhere else (there's a strong argument for some amount of government assistance here)
I'm not suggesting we stop at nonprofit insurance. We can use the data so states can determine regions that are unfit for human habitation, which will become necessary due to climate change. A state-ran insurance could still have risk pools as well for matters like house and car insurance, without nonsense like charging charging more for owners of red cars.
Does it actually cover anything? I haven't looked into it but my knee-jerk reaction is that it's very simple and doesn't cover anything important, especially anything having to do with climate change.
Being from BC the basic car insurance is a non profit Provincial run scheme. All vehicles on the road need this basic insurance. They also manage rules, regulations, and other safety requirements for the Province.
Then extra coverage can be bought from the government agency or from private providers. The government is covering for all the bad drivers and then dealing with all the scammers while the private providers then cherry pick the best drivers for the extra coverage.
Insurance is expensive and there are the usual cries to make it private so it will be much cheaper!
I've lived in other Provinces where it's a private scheme. They are very expensive for new drivers, and those that have problematic issues can't afford to get insurance making it harder on those that have it and become tangled up with these uninsured drivers. This affects the good drivers eventually too. Most insurance works this way as it is.
Well some states already have that for example Citizens in FL. Everyone who buys property insurance has to pay into it to cover people who own property in places that nobody in their right mind would insure for wind. Some states only allow work comp through the state or the state competes with private insurers as well. But given the political climate in like half of states I'm not sure how you expect that will really be better. Private insurers are definitely looking for profit but when the state steps in it's not like rates are going to be dirt cheap, or if they are just just going to be paid by tax increases instead. Home and property insurance is hella expensive in some areas because it costs a lot of money to constantly rebuild people's buildings and auto insurance is hella expensive because people buy hella expensive cars then drive like fuckin maniacs, and medical costs are outrageous. If they state handles the insurance you're still gonna have to pay for your insurance and you're still gonna have to subsidizebstupid people who drive like idiots and whatnot, but you have Ron DeSantis siphoning funds instead of CEO bonuses and golden parachutes.
I work in insurance and it's wild how many insurance carriers have pulled out of Florida and California due to natural disasters. The market is vastly shifting to smaller carriers in these regions.
Interesting, though: the highest insurance rates are in the midwest - Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas. No one lives there, so the risk pool is smaller than big states like CA and FL, and you can't send firefighters to divert a tornado. We'll see if that holds up to climate change, bigger CA fires, and more frequent FL hurricanes.
Not according to my FIL. Nope, he's convinced the media articles are just a lie cuz "they want the auto insurance money and the state won't let them do auto unless they do home" 🙄
I've had three insurers in four years in FL. Policy price increased each time, as well. I have no idea what's going to happen if it continues. I can't afford to keep up.
Idk how true that is, tho it sounds like the exact kind of thing that results from Democrats not thinking about policy downstream and just rubber stamping lobbyist bullshit, and then being blaisé about it when called out. Dems are conciliatory, reactionary with policy. They'll bend whichever way keeps them in power.
That being said if that kind of shit thought it could fly in my state I'd go pay some homie hectors from in front of home depot to throw a dozen molotovs each at town hall, the building the police union is in and the courthouses. Bonuses for the guys that actually get a structure fire roaring.
When all the avenues to redress are jammed up to the point of nonfunctioning, when, by the design of those currently winning, using the protections of our systems likely means bankruptcy; justice delayed IS justice denied
A society with no regard towards justice will fall by the hands, rightfully, of those that do.
Lessons from history show that those that enabled, protected or profiteered from that cancerous society will be seen to have aquires that cancer too.
For all our advanced tech, socially we're still medieval; societies medicine hasn't moved beyond the humors...and blood letting
So, in this scenario, the hispanic day-laborers tou hired to commit arson are the ones with regard towards justice? Or you?
I mean, you're sounding a little medieval. Humors and blood-letting? We're turning our own cells temporarily into protein factories to train our immune systems, there's vaccines for fucking cancer, and we're able to edit our genetic code to fix things like our bllod cells being the wrong shape.
You can't get it in the boonies. I live in a city and my insurance, with an earthquake rider, is only a few hundred a month. My coworker lives in sparsely populated area (by the standards of this metro area) and his insurance costs a little over 7x as much, and continues to rise.
And it's deserved too. These people move out there because they're the type that want to "own land," but then none of them maintain it. I'll go over to his house for a party and be in the backyard and everywhere I look, his property and every property it touches, as soon as you go beyond the area immediately around the house that is actually used, the entire ground is covered by kindling. One dropped cigarette and his entire neighborhood is gone.
So Virginia is weird. You can technically drive without insurance but you have to pay a one time fee to DMV and register as uninsured. In truth though you will not likely get an auto loan without it. And good luck if you get in an accident. I'm guessing that this is a hold over for vehicles that are "farm use" or for "antique vehicles" that might need to use the roadways occasionally but don't really need expensive coverage.
You also have to pay the uninsured motor vehicle fee when you renew registration, so that comes out it $500/year or $40/mo. So you end up paying 1/3 to 1/2 of insurance and don't get any coverage.
Technically you are not required to have auto insurance. The law (most states if not all?) requires “financial responsibility”. This can be achieved by filing a bond with the state instead of paying for insurance.
However, insurance is far and away the most cost effective way to meet financial responsibility requirements. The coverage is greater and the costs are much cheaper.
Or, don’t drive. Spend the money on investing in mass transit and walkable cities and then you don’t have the cost of insurance, a vehicle, maintenance, or fuel. If only it were that easy…
It isn't that easy. I would love it, but suggesting it's easy is ludicrous. It would take an incredible amount of money and time and effort and, in general, it is an effort worth making. But it won't help those of us who live well outside city limits down a country road.
Obviously. I'm just saying- what are you supposed to do if you need insurance but no one will insure you and this is happening to huge numbers of people? I'm sure the Fuck Cars folks would tell us to just not drive. I live in a semi-rural subdivision down a country road from a four-lane highway, two miles from the nearest bus station. It was -16 this morning when I woke up.
I have a rider on my insurance specifically to cover additional costs incurred if I get in an accident where the other party is at fault, but has no insurance themselves. It doesn't cost that much more.... yet.
I don't blame then for qutting if it's unprofitable. Maybe it'll be a wake up call to require new building codes to entice them back.
Homes can be retrofitted for earthquakes. It costs money, but if it's that serious a problem, maybe the government needs to add incentives to do it, and maybe insurers won't insure unless you have.
Work can be done to prevent flooding as well. There was a massive flood in BC Canada during a huge storm a few years ago causing billions in damage. Some of that disaster was because on the US side they wouldn't upgrade one of the anti flooding measures that impacted our side of the border.
It's going to cost an enormous amount of money, but thats the cost if having ignored the scientists for decades on climate change for many of these problems.