WASHINGTON, DC – Earlier this month, Unlocking America’s Future (UAF) released a new report on the insurance crisis in Texas, revealing how Texas has become the third most expensive state for home insurance in the nation, fueling an affordability crisis that is hammering Texans’ pocketbooks. The report revealed how Texas home insurers have systematically denied nearly half of all claims while extracting record profits through premium increases. Unlocking America’s Future called for immediate reforms to provide relief for homeowners and demanded action by Texas Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and state insurance regulators to hold the insurance companies accountable.
In response to UAF’s report, rather than explain why their industry’s profits are more important than their customers’ homes, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) attacked people who dare to call them out and pointed to a failed bill in the Texas legislature as proof they weren’t the problem. Specifically, APCIA claimed taxpayer-funded resilience grant programs are essential to addressing the insurance crisis – of course, without any evidence. However, even in the most successful state for such programs, Alabama, only 7,000 (2:24:27) homes out of 60,000 upgrades have actually taken grant funding, exposing these programs as a distraction from what has really moved the needle: required discounts for homeowners who upgrade their homes.
APCIA’s real agenda is clear: they want taxpayers to fund retrofits that would reduce insurers’ payouts to victims while boosting their profits, without requiring insurers to incorporate upgrades into underwriting and pass those savings on to consumers through lower premiums.
“APCIA’s meltdown is the best evidence we could ask for that our report hit the mark. We exposed how the insurance industry rigged the system, making it nearly impossible for homeowners to fight wrongful denials and other mistreatment, and slashing penalties when insurers get caught. The result? Unpaid claims spiked, insurers raked in huge profits, and Texas families got screwed,” said Kyle Herrig, spokesperson for Unlocking America’s Future. “APCIA can throw whatever tantrum they want, but they can’t argue with the numbers. They created this mess. They’re profiting from it. And now they’re mad we called them out.”
The Facts Don’t Lie
The Texas home insurance crisis has deep roots in industry-backed legislation and political influence. A Texas law passed in 2017 created a system where insurers face minimal consequences for denying legitimate claims. UAF found that a GOP-backed political group received $70,000 from the American Insurance Association between 2012 and 2017 to help push the legislation through, allowing home insurers to abuse the legal system with impunity. Unpaid claims spiked by 10 percentage points in a single year, demonstrating how quickly insurers adapted to their new freedom to deny claims without meaningful penalties. The insurance industry spent hundreds of thousands of dollars funding Texans for Lawsuit Reform after the industry-supported bill passed.
Unpaid home insurance claims in Texas have steadily increased from 35% in 2004 to 47% in 2024, a twenty-year trajectory that shows a systematic shift in how insurers treat policyholders, with the most dramatic change occurring after the 2017 law reduced penalties for wrongful denials. The insurance industry’s political investments have paid off handsomely: Texas Governor Greg Abbott received over $700,000 from the insurance industry during his 2022 reelection campaign and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick received $460,000.
Read the full report titled ‘How Homeowners Pay More for Less While Insurers Profit.’
