Georgia homeowners are getting squeezed as insurers hike premiums and pull back coverage, even as they post record profits. Georgia’s home insurance rates have climbed 40% since 2020, and Insurify projects the state will see a 10% rate increase in 2026—one of the largest projected hikes in the country—following a 9% increase in 2025.
Insurance companies are passing the costs and risks associated with climate change onto policyholders, while continuing to underwrite and invest in the same polluters responsible for the crisis. Hurricane Helene caused severe damage, killed over three dozen people, and dealt a $5.5 billion blow to the state’s agriculture and forestry industries. Despite the losses and damage, property and casualty insurers operating in Georgia remained profitable due to their investment incomes, yet still raised homeowners’ insurance bills anyway. Roughly 13% of Georgia homes are uninsured, leaving families one storm away from financial devastation.
Meanwhile, Americans are facing the largest climate-denial risk shift under the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, which, combined with Trump’s tariff-driven inflation, are pushing home insurance premiums even higher.
Georgians Are Paying More, Getting Less While Home Insurers Profit
Fact: Property and casualty insurers made an unprecedented $405 billion in profit over the last three years nationally, even as they raised prices for Georgia families and pushed for laws to avoid paying claims.
Fact: Georgia’s home insurance rates have risen 40% since 2020, and are projected to keep climbing faster than the national average into 2026.
Fact: The least insurable and most at risk counties are along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Every coastal county in Georgia faces higher risks and costs, with homeowners in Bryan County experiencing the highest risks and most costly premiums, paying $4,154 on average annually.
Fact: Georgia insurers implemented wind and hail deductibles as high as 5% of a home’s insured value.
Fact: Even as insurers point to storm losses like Hurricane Helene to justify rate hikes, the industry held some $1.27 trillion in reserves nationally, while national claims denial rates jump to nearly 40%.
Fact: Insurers earn millions of dollars in interest and investment income for every day a homeowners’ claim payment is delayed, and the industry knows it.
Fact: Georgia Republicans passed a draconian ‘tort reform’ package in 2025, pushed by insurance industry lobbyists, similar to the anti-consumer measures that have failed in both Texas and Florida.
Fact: The Trump administration and congressional Republicans policy decisions and actions have driven home insurance rates higher, particularly in high-risk coastal areas, while failing to hold the industry accountable.
Fact: Trump’s tariff taxes were projected to increase home insurance costs in Georgia by over $100 annually.
Congressional Republicans Are Making Georgia’s Crisis Worse
Congressional Republicans voted for Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which repealed funding for NOAA’s atmospheric research and weather forecasting programs, stripping nearly 40% of funding from the office responsible for hurricane tracking and severe weather prediction, the very tools Georgians depend on ahead of hurricane season. Meanwhile, the Trump administration withheld $11 billion in FEMA disaster reimbursements owed to 45 states, and a federal judge had to order FEMA to restore billions in canceled disaster mitigation funding after the administration tried to eliminate the program that helps communities harden infrastructure against storms before disaster strikes. Tariffs on construction materials are also projected to add hundreds of dollars to the average American’s insurance bill by raising the cost of rebuilding after a disaster.
Solutions Exist to Lower Costs and Protect Georgia Homeowners
Congress needs to stop making this crisis worse for their constituents. They should:
- Put their constituents first and rein in egregious home insurance profits;
- Restore full funding to NOAA’s weather forecasting and research programs;
- Release the FEMA disaster reimbursements and mitigation grants already owed to states;
- Reinstate programs, like BRIC, that help communities prepare before storms hit;
- Fully fund and fix the National Flood Insurance Program;
- Prevent insurers from using credit scores in premium pricing;
- Hold polluters accountable for climate-driven risks and damage;
- Require insurers to provide full disclosure, including profit margins and investments, alongside rate hike requests;
- Regulate and require transparency for new home insurance surplus lines of insurance;
- Provide more transparency to allow state lawmakers and regulators to address market inefficiencies and gaps across states; and
- Finally, at the very least, Georgia residents should expect federal and state lawmakers to hold hearings on insurers’ pattern of delay, deny, and defend practices harming policyholders.
The Insurance Fairness Project released a comprehensive report detailing the Georgia home insurance crisis early this year, and Georgia congressional Republicans have still failed to act. A coalition of congressional Democrats recently launched an investigation into insurers’ use of credit scores in rate setting. Oklahoma’s is taking insurers to court over the industry’s fraudulent practices. Numerous solutions exist to help lower risks and costs for Georgia businesses and homeowners if politicians and regulators choose to act.
For questions or to connect with an insurance expert, ratings analyst, policymaker, or impacted homeowner, please email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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