6 Comments

Too late for many that dropped the wind coverage. Their rates still rose.

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tried repeatedly to get a good-faith explanation from the governor’s office,---- you are spitting into the wind

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Should the cost of insuring high-risk, expensive coastal properties be paid by taxpayers?

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It’s clear that conventional insurance math simply doesn’t work for this issue. The damage from Ian alone (~115b) is on par with the ENTIRE state budget for 2023. Insurance companies can’t possibly charge enough in premiums to cover damages at that scale, especially if it can be reasonably expected to reoccur every few years. Keep in mind that a homeowner paying $5-6k annually would need 50 years to cover the value of a modest home.

State “self-insurance” can help - particularly by cutting out the profits & overhead that goes into private premiums. However, the longer-term strategy lies in reducing losses in high-risk costal areas by limiting payouts to a fraction of the property value. Coastal owners will be forced to carry the bulk of financial risk themselves either by hardening or only building low replacement cost structures.

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Reading editorials like this make me realize how little journalists understand about the insurance industry.

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