IDAHO – As Americans across the country grapple with rising costs of health care, food, energy, and other essentials, many communities are finding that home insurance is among the areas where they’re facing the steepest increases. New reporting shows that Idaho is experiencing steep property insurance premium increases, with rates rising 37% from just over $1,300 to roughly $1,800 on average. Homeowners are facing the choice of either going without home insurance or having to cut something from their family budget to keep their coverage.
Idaho’s crisis reflects a nationwide breaking point in homeowners insurance, with premiums skyrocketing nearly 70% over the past five years while insurers deny legitimate claims. Insurance companies posted record profits of nearly $167 billion in 2024 – a staggering 91% increase from 2023, even as they abandon policyholders in disaster-prone communities. Families are being forced into expensive last-resort coverage or left to go without insurance entirely, putting their homes and financial security at risk.
“Idaho families are being squeezed by an insurance industry that’s jacking up premiums by 37% while denying coverage and abandoning communities that need it most, but it’s not unique,” said Unlocking America’s Future spokesperson Kyle Herrig. “This is a nationwide pattern where insurance companies are forcing working families to choose between keeping their homes insured and putting food on the table. Elected officials, state insurance commissions, legislators, and regulators must step up and protect homeowners from this exploitation instead of letting the insurance industry get away with maximizing profits at our expense.”
Unlocking America’s Future (UAF) has been sounding the alarm on this escalating crisis, demanding comprehensive regulatory reform, transparency, and accountability to end insurance industry exploitation of policyholders. Last month, UAF released a Texas report revealing insurers denied nearly half of claims while raising premiums, prompting a defensive response from the insurance industry’s trade association, which deflected blame rather than defending these harmful practices.
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Boise State Public Radio News: As evidence of Idaho homeowners insurance crisis mounts, so does bipartisan concern
- “I really enjoy the neighborhood,” Wendy said of their new Idaho home. “But I’m not happy with the increase in my homeowner’s insurance this year.”
- Their premium for the first year was around $830.
- “And then this year is $1,080,” Wendy explained. “That’s almost a 30% increase.”
- The new rate reflects a roughly $140 discount they got after installing a new roof, without which it would have been closer to a 50% jump. Wendy said she budgets for 5% increases in expenses like insurance, which her steadily growing retirement nest egg can easily cover.
- “But it doesn’t grow 30% a year, so I can’t keep up with that,” she said. “So something else would have to go.”
- Her agent pointed to inflation, wildfire risk, and other factors cited by many experts to explain growing instability in the homeowners insurance market across the West. But Wendy wants a clearer explanation of how her insurer arrived at her premium.
- “Explain this,” she said. “Where are the numbers? Show me the numbers.”
- While an unwelcome surprise for the Nevers, new data from the Idaho Department of Insurance shows that their experience is now a common one. Similar – or far steeper – increases are being seen across the state, along with widespread policy cancellations.
- An important part of the drop in policies, Cameron explained, was due to three carriers winding down their homeowners operations in the state. But the “bulk of the 2023 loss is simply carriers tightening where they want to underwrite, where they want to sell and and deciding who they’re not renewing.”
- “Our fear is that we’ve got 30,000-plus people that decided to go without coverage,” he added. Thousands may have also found their way to so-called surplus line policies, which aren’t licensed by the state and are not required to follow all regulations: coverage can be limited, deductibles can be high and dangers like wildfires can be excluded.
- The first-term state representative said she was shocked when she saw the massive shifts in and around her Boise area district.
- “We’re losing providers and seeing the largest increase in premiums in communities that are not situated in forest areas, or what we would traditionally think of as highly prone wildfire areas,” she said. “They are in the middle of cities in the flatlands.”
- She was also shocked by the wide gap seen between premiums collected in 2024 (roughly $710 million) and claims paid out (nearly $300 million).
