WASHINGTON, DC – Unlocking America’s Future is demanding urgent action from state insurance commissioners, legislators, and regulators as American homeowners face an unprecedented insurance affordability crisis. While state officials possess clear authority to protect consumers, many state insurance commissioners and regulators continue approving industry requests that prioritize corporate profits over family financial and home security.
There are five immediate actions elected officials, state insurance commissioners, and regulators should take to improve the growing home insurance crisis.
“Every state insurance commissioner and regulator faces the same fundamental question: Will you protect homeowners being crushed by skyrocketing costs, or will you keep approving whatever the home insurance industry asks for?” said Kyle Herrig, Unlocking America’s Future spokesperson. “American families need state leaders willing to stand up to home insurers’ pressure. Solutions for homeowners exist—familes just need officials brave enough to implement them.”
Homeowners Suffer When Elected Officials, Insurance Commissioners, and Regulators Fail Consumers:
North Carolina:
The failures of North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey demonstrate what happens when regulators abandon their consumer protection mandate. Throughout his time in office, Causey has approved no fewer than 16 rate hikes, repeatedly choosing insurer interests over policyholder protection. North Carolina homeowners have seen rates spiked 38% since 2019 in North Carolina, with homeowners paying an average of $310 more per year. Currently under consideration: industry demands for an average 68.3% rate increase.
California:
In California, homeowners are paying more for less coverage as premiums have skyrocketed since 2019. The state’s insurance commissioner has rubber-stamped rate hikes, while ignoring wildfire victim complaints and allowing insurers to force families back into toxic homes. Former state insurance commissioner now-Congressman John Garamendi (CA-8) said, “The bottom line is that the current commissioner has failed his obligations to consumers and failed his obligations to hold insurance companies financially accountable.”
Texas:
Texas has become the third most expensive state for home insurance in the nation, fueling an affordability crisis that is hammering Texans’ pocketbooks. Home insurers operating in Texas have systematically closed nearly half of all claims without payment while extracting record profits through rate and premium increases. The American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) defended the industry’s profiteering practices instead of supporting solutions for homeowners.
Florida:
Florida has the worst and most expensive home insurance market in the country, with insurance premiums increasing 54% since 2019. The crisis has become so severe that 20% of Florida homeowners don’t have home insurance at all, contributing to the highest home foreclosure rate of any state last year. The crisis was made worse after Governor DeSantis pushed through draconian tort reforms limiting homeowners ability to hold insurers accountable. DeSantis’s appointed insurance commissioner even conceded that persistently rising insurance premiums are hammering Floridians.
Louisiana:
New analysis exposed a dramatic surge in home insurance non-renewals and rate increases, with Louisiana serving as ground zero for the home insurance crisis spreading across the nation. With non-renewal rates surging since 2018 accompanied by skyrocketing costs, a shocking 21.2% of homeowners are going without insurance. Home insurance costs are undermining Black homeownership and wealth, with Louisiana serving as a warning sign for others.
Five Immediate Actions to Improve the Crisis From Public Citizen
Step One: Give Homeowners Real Time When Insurers Cancel Coverage
Too many states allow insurers to drop policyholders with just 20 to 30 days’ warning. In Louisiana, non-renewal rates have surged since 2018, leaving a shocking 21.2% uninsured across the state. Lawmakers should mandate multi-month notification windows, providing families sufficient time to find alternative coverage and make property improvements that might prevent cancellation.
Step Two: Crack Down on Claims Abuse
State regulators must impose meaningful financial consequences when insurers act in bad faith, require automatic interest payments when claims processing drags on, and mandate minimum payout thresholds that ensure settlements actually cover documented repair expenses.
In Los Angeles County, 70% of Palisades and Eaton fire survivors are facing claim denials and delays that have prevented them from recovering one year later. The insurance industry has turned this disaster into a profit opportunity, and the state insurance commissioner and regulators have let them get away with it. Insurers are denying smoke-damage claims, providing estimates well below actual construction costs, and forcing families back into contaminated homes.
Step Three: Strengthen Rate Review Authority
Real regulatory oversight requires resources and authority. Illinois offers an emerging model. States should create consumer advocate funding mechanisms, modeled on utility regulation, that enable independent technical analysis of industry rate requests.
Step Four: Make Insurers Fund Climate Risk Reduction
States can generate immediate revenue for climate adaptation by assessing fees on insurance companies. These funds should support homeowner grants for proven risk-reduction measures: fire-resistant building materials, hurricane shutters, reinforced roofing systems, and other upgrades that demonstrably reduce disaster losses.
As of today, Texas is the only Gulf Coast state that doesn’t mandate insurance discounts for using more resilient construction methods in homes, a commonly used risk reduction practice across the nation. Home insurers that operate in Texas claim they support the concept of a statewide resiliency program but don’t want to be forced to offer discounts to customers.
Step Five: End Insurance Industry Fossil Fuel Financing
The insurance sector remains among the largest financial backers of fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure—directly fueling the climate disruption that’s destabilizing the home insurance market.
Likewise, it’s time for fossil fuel companies to be held financially accountable for the soaring homeowners insurance costs driven by climate change. New proposed legislation in California would make polluters pay for the climate crisis they created while California families struggle with insurance premiums that have become unaffordable.
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