Farmers Insurance pulls out of Florida, affecting 100,000 homeowners
Farmers Insurance pulls out of Florida, affecting 100,000 homeowners
TALLAHASSEE — Farmers Insurance Group announced Tuesday that it would no longer write new policies or renew existing homeowner, auto and umbrella policies, a day after Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis took to Twitter to threaten to take action if it did. “Hearing rumors @WeAreFarmers m...
The people who know a thing or two because they’ve seen a thing or two are getting the fuck out of Florida lol
Insurance is a suckers game if you are trying to get insurance on a piece of land that will be underwater in the next few decades. Who wants to take on a risk that is guaranteed to happen?
Generally, insurance companies aren't taking that risk. They can decline to renew your policy if they give you 120 days notice, so, for the most part, they are only insuring the next year.
This is all about the immediate risk of major hurricanes and the rapidly climbing costs of rebuilds. I know people in Colorado are really struggling to rebuild because costs have risen so much recently and insurance didn't keep up. I recently moved insurers (to Farmers, ha) and increased my rebuild amount by nearly 30%. That certainly came with a policy hike, but gives me enough that I have reasonable confidence I could indeed rebuild a comparable house.
I suspect there's also a risk concentration problem with some insurers. I've got to imagine they are looking at massive computer models of possible hurricane tracks and seeing scenarios where there's an outsized exposure. Still, what is curious to me is that they can't price it in as that's essentially the business that they are in. Would the required rate increase really be that unpalatable?
People were saying Florida would be underwater “in a few decades” in 2005, almost a few decades ago…. And it’s not. Florida has a barrier island (it’s man made, I think) and mangroves, both of which slow land erosion along its coast.
Meanwhile there are people living there who need insurance
The thing about insurance companies is they are out to make money. They don't care about philosophy or the blowing of the political winds. So for them to pull out of Florida they must have analyses that show that pulling out will make them more money than staying in the market. It doesn't matter if there are people there who need insurance, Farmers is out to make money not give it away in a bad investment.
So like you’re just ignoring the “significant increase in flooding in south Florida over the last decade”? (Link)[https://piahs.copernicus.org/articles/382/207/2020/]
Florida is sinking, while sea levels are rising. It’s causing more frequent flooding, but it’s also claiming land every day. If Florida isn’t experiencing any of the issues that climate change brought about then I guess all of the insurance companies leaving, and marking “increased environmental disasters” as their biggest reason is more to do with… people eating too much McDonald’s? Or could it be that they’re leaving for the exact same reason that scientists have been saying for decades. Florida, much like the rest of the south, is sinking and hurricanes are increasing in both frequency and power. Which leads to more environmental disasters.
When the seas rise on a porous state like Florida, they're going to flood from the ground up as much as from water rushing in from the coasts. The Florida water table is rising.
But it's not just land erosion along the coast that you need to worry about.
Miami is already getting salt-water intrusion in the storm sewer system, which makes them run backwards. This will eventually intrude into the aquifer there as well making the water undrinkable without expensive filtration.
The limestone that all of south Florida sits on is literally being eaten away by ocean acidification.
That same limestone prevents any kind of dyke or seawall system from working.
Sinkholes are opening up in the middle of the state due to so much water being pumped out of the aquifer & it not being able to replenish fast enough.
It doesn't matter if people need insurance. Insurance companies aren't in the business of giving away money.
People were saying Florida would be underwater “in a few decades” in 2005,
It would be useful to see the exact quote in context. Do you have it?
No, there is not a barrier island that will stop flooding. And the mangroves can slow erosion where they are but will not prevent flooding.
“Hearing rumors @WeAreFarmers might pull out of Florida,” Patronis tweeted Monday afternoon. “If that’s true my office is going to explore every avenue possible for holding them accountable. Don’t get to leave after taking policyholder money.”
Oh, I’m sure that will fix everything, because republicans like Jimmy Patronis are SO good at holding corporations “accountable”.
Mfw refugees start boating around Florida to land in a non-garbage state.
It's already happening: US Internal Refugee Crisis: 130-260k Trans People Have Already Fled
They're actually late to the game. A lot of insurance companies already pulled out.
I read about an 1800sf home in St Pete, not on a flood plane, yesterday... $8000+/year for homeowners insurance. 😳
Make America Florida, Rhonda Santis? I think fucking not....
Capitalism!
Florida's a shit hole and I'm glad to see the voters there getting what they deserve.
Please remember that there are a significant number of people who live there who didn't vote for DeSantis and don't like him (or Rick Scott before him, etc.). Those people don't deserve scorn.
Yup. Something like 400k GOP assholes moved here from other states during the last election cycle to avoid COVID restrictions. The ones that are still alive aren't voting for Democrats.
Dun da dun dun - dun dun dun