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Insurance

INSURANCE

Insurance companies are in the business of predicting future loss, and so must ensure that they reserve for such events. What happens when the history they have is no longer a reliable guide for predicting the future? And then, what happens when those insurance companies begin to use forward-looking extreme weather models to price policies.

This is critical because the future, and even the present, no longer looks like the past. Large hurricanes that used to be infrequent are getting more common. The hottest days are often beyond what anyone has ever experienced. Evidence that in June, we recorded the highest single-day temperature the world has ever experienced and, in July, the hottest week.

America has only recently begun factoring in those accelerated risks as more frequent floods, droughts, wildfires and hurricanes, as well as precipitation and sea level rise, become the inevitable consequences of a warming planet.

As a result insurance companies nationwide are leaving homeowners in the lurch. We are observing this in Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, Colorado, Oregon and California which have all seen insurers fold, cancel policies, cease writing new policies or leave the state  altogether after repeated floods, hurricanes and wildfires. AIG is even focusing on affluent ZIP codes to reduce sales in New York, Delaware, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado.

In May 2023, two federal science agencies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) responded, announcing that they were creating a research center to bring climate change data to the insurance industry so they can use climate science to look into the future.

On September 20, 2023 First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that works to define and communicate risks posed by climate change, published its most recent report and devastating is an understatement. Tens of millions of properties around the country are insured at prices that haven’t caught up with the danger of hurricanes, wildfires, and floods. First Street estimates that 39 million US homes are insured at artificially suppressed prices compared to the risk they actually face.

THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE, SO FAR…

  • NOAA reports, on its website, that the U.S. has sustained 360 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion for a total of $2.575 trillion.

    The 2019 share was $53.1 billion; 2020 was $115.4 billion; 2021 was $157 billion; 2022 was $175.2 billion.

    Through June 2023, with twelve events, the U.S. already reached $32.4 billion in damages (and 100 deaths) which is more than any total year prior to 1992. These events were all caused by tornadoes, severe hail, high winds, extreme flooding, record snowfall and copious rainfall.

  • The impact of these extreme weather events on everything from housing to food production is as far-reaching as it is frightening.  Already in 2019, Rostin Behnam of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission told the NYT, “It is abundantly clear that climate change poses financial risk to the stability of the financial system.” 

  • David Keys was driven to title his Opinion piece for The New York Times in May, 2023: Your Homeowners’ Insurance Bill is the Canary in the Climate Coal Mine.

HOW ARE INSURERS RESPONDING TO EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS?

They are raising their rates. They are reducing the number of homes they’ll insure. They are lobbying states for more freedom to increase rates. The ramifications are huge. Across the U.S., premiums jumped 12% from 2021 to 2022.  By 2023, more and more insurers are pulling back from vulnerable areas. Without insurance, banks won’t issue mortgages, making homes harder to buy or sell. While insurers can choose to stop offering insurance, the homeowners and governments they leave behind will still have to deal with the risks. And as the costs go up, more households may decide to reduce their coverage or may choose to go without insurance entirely.

As some private insurers retreat from higher-risk areas, state-backed “insurer of last resort” plans are stepping into the void. The number of enrollees in these state-backed plans rose by 29 percent between 2018 and 2021. These plans are often more expensive, they offer less coverage than private insurance options, and they face the same concerns as private insurers about their ability to pay out in the event of a crisis without burdening policyholders statewide.

WILDFIRES ARE DECIMATING THE INSURANCE MARKET IN THE WEST

FLOODING AND HURRICANES HAVE CLAIMED THE REST OF THE COUNTRY

It is not just wildfires that insurers are worried about. Scientists are confident that climate change is fueling hurricanes capable of whipping up more dangerous storm surges, as well as increasing the odds of extreme rainfall events (20% of the country can now expect a 1-in-100-year storm every 25 years) that can and are triggering inland flooding. In fact, unless you live in the 1% of U.S. counties that were not impacted by flooding between 1996 and 2019, your property may be at risk for flood damage. 

  • In 2021, CNN reported that flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster in the U.S., that in the previous decade, floods caused more than $155 billion worth of damage, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and that there are nearly 4.3 million residential properties around the country with a substantial risk of financial loss due to flooding. It’s estimated that only one-third of households in flood zones have flood insurance — with many risking financial ruin if the “big one” hits.

  • Imagine the costs if a category 5 hurricane hits New York. Already, Superstorm Sandy, in 2012, dealt a devastating blow to New York City, parts of New Jersey, and much of Long Island. Owing only to Sandy’s last-minute turn away from the South Fork, the storied Hamptons, where multi-million-dollar properties were too often developed practically to the ocean’s edge, escaped the worst of it. Nonetheless, it was immediately clear that higher, and perhaps much higher, insurance premiums would follow. 

  • In Florida, no stranger to flooding and hurricanes, Hurricane Ian killed more than 100 people in 2022 and caused an estimated $67 billion in private market insured losses, according to RMS. Losses, rate price controls and litigation costs have all prompted big insurers to pull back. As the state lost insurers (Farmers was the 4th major insurer to step back on July 3, 2023), more than 1 million Floridians have joined the state-backed Citizens plan, which is backed up by taxpayers and homeowners. The Florida exodus is the latest sign that climate change, exacerbated by the use of fossil fuels, is destabilizing the U.S. insurance market. Already, homeowners in the state pay about three times as much for insurance coverage as the national average, and rates this year are expected to soar about 40%.  Meanwhile, warmer air and water are making hurricanes stronger and more damaging.

  • July, 2023 had 55 million people in the Northeast under flood threats and 14 million under a tornado watch as Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania experienced catastrophic rainfall.

SURELY, THERE IS FEDERAL FLOOD INSURANCE

Flood damage (storm surges, hurricanes, torrential rains) is generally excluded under standard homeowners and renters insurance policies but available as a separate policy from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by FEMA, and some private insurers (but limited to $250,000). FEMA is responsible for flagging high-risk zones where property owners with federally backed mortgages must purchase flood insurance but they rarely account for risks from intense rainfall. The National Flood Insurance Program, billions in debt due to years of disproportionate rates and repeated disasters, only recently enacted the so-called Risk Rating 2.0 restructuring.

In June, 2023, Forbes created a very useful guide to flood insurance here and another explaining how FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program works here.

IS THE CLIMATE ALSO AFFECTING CROP INSURANCE?

Crop insurance is heavily subsidized by the Federal Crop Insurance Program (created in 1938 following the Great Depression) paying farmers when their crop yields or revenues decline and expensing billions of taxpayer dollars each year (taxpayers pick up about 60% of premiums). It is a huge safety net. Payments have risen rapidly from just over 41.5 billion in 1995 to $8.5 billion in 2020, as the climate crisis fueled extreme weather events across the country. Higher prices, and consequently higher premiums (and subsidies), will inevitably follow. Though much depends on the future escalations of greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting severity of future warming, climate change is expected to decrease domestic production of corn, soybeans, and wheat and have an outsize impact in the future.

In January, 2022, the headline at Reuters was ‘U.S. crop insurance payouts rise sharply as climate change worsens droughts, floods”.

ANY GOOD NEWS?

If there is a bright spot in the insurance sector, it is to be found in the industry’s growing recognition that climate change poses a significant threat to its long-established business model. Some companies’ practices are evolving as they simultaneously encourage policyholders to adapt and mitigate, and claimants to rebuild according to green standards.

Insurers have also begun looking at the dangers posed by companies without sufficient environmental concerns. Chubb will, for example, in 2022 cease underwriting new risks for companies that generate more than 30% of their energy production from coal. The two largest reinsurance companies in the world, Munich Re and Swiss Re, are both no longer insuring new oil and gas projects as of Spring, 2023. 

The next step for environmentalists will be to push more companies to shed their coverage of existing coal projects as well as all oil and gas.

Can you insure against climate change?

CURRENT NEWS

‘A Beautiful Place That Has a Dragon’: Where Hurricane Risk Meets Booming Growth

By Aatish Bhatia 11/19/23
The hurricanes keep coming, and the people, too: The fastest-growing places along the Atlantic coast this century are also among the most hurricane-prone. Between 2016 and 2022, the five hurricanes that hit the Carolinas cost…
Read more

As Climate Shocks Grow, Lawmakers Investigate Insurers Fleeing Risky Areas

By Christopher Flavelle 11/01/23
Faced with growing losses from hurricanes, floods and wildfires, major insurance companies are pulling out of California, Florida and Louisiana — a shift that threatens to undermine the economies of those states.
Read more

Climate change is driving insurance rates up, forcing developers to add weather-proofing

By Rebecca Picciotto 10/31/23
Along East Boston’s waterfront sits The Eddy, a two-building property with over 250 luxury apartments. Its harbor-side location provides unobstructed views of the Boston skyline. It also leaves the building particularly vulnerable to sea surges…
Read more

Dramatic plan to expand flood areas could force millions to buy insurance

By Thomas Frank 10/27/23
It’s a glaring weak spot in climate protection: Millions of U.S. residents don’t have flood insurance and face financial ruin if their home is inundated. But the nation’s insurance gap would shrink under a dramatic…
Read more

Feeling the pinch of high home insurance rates? It’s not getting better anytime soon

By Greg Allen 10/26/23
Gregg Weiss lives in an older neighborhood in West Palm Beach. His home and many others are nearly a century old. It's a great place to live he says, except when it comes to buying…
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Global insured disaster losses in 2023 to top $100B

By Andrew Freedman 10/19/23
Global insured natural catastrophe losses in 2023 are expected to eclipse $100 billion for the sixth time since 2017, according to a new report from Gallagher Re, a reinsurance company.
Read more

The hypocrisy at the heart of the insurance industry

By Zoe Schlanger 10/18/23
Cameron Parish, Louisiana, used to be a nice collection of little coastal towns where the shrimping was good and the stars at night were better, James Hiatt told me. Hiatt lives just up the river,…
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The insurance world is flirting with its climate doom loop

By Helen Thomas 10/11/23
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to…
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As climate risks mount, the insurance safety net is collapsing

By Lois Parshley 10/10/23
“We’ve got ourselves a little monster out there,” anchorman Jim Cantore warned, facing the camera in the Weather Channel’s newsroom on a sultry August weekend in 1992. At first, few in Florida were paying attention.…
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Climate change is causing more damaging ‘mid-size’ storms. Insurers are taking notice

By Susan Phillips 10/05/23
On a Monday in early August, thunderstorms tore across the Philadelphia region. Nothing unusual, a typical summer storm.
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More States Are Requiring Flood Risk Disclosures. Florida Is Conspicuously Not among Them

By Thomas Frank 10/05/23
Prospective homebuyers in more states are being told of the flood risk and history of the properties they want to purchase thanks to an uptick in flood disclosure requirements. A new analysis by the National…
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First Street Foundation’s 9th National Report: The Insurance Issue

10/02/23
Experts from the First Street Foundation discuss the findings of the 9th National Risk Assessment: The Insurance Issue. An insurance bubble of 39 million properties exists across the country. Find out how it was calculated,…
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KEY RESOURCES

National Flood Insurance Program Borrowing Authority

10/11/23
This Insight evaluates the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) borrowing authority to receive loans

The 9th National Risk Assessment: The Insurance Issue

09/20/23
Wildfire risk across the United States has been increasing in recent years, as described by a number of studies of the observed increased wildfire incidence, and relatedly, the increasing threat to forests and communities (Burke…

Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) participation

05/03/23
Since its inception in the 1930s, the Federal Crop Insurance Program evolved into a key Federal support program for agriculture in the United States. The USDA, Risk Management Agency (RMA) oversees FCIP and offers agricultural…

NFIP Debt

11/04/22
Since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) debt to the U.S. Treasury has remained steep; it currently is $20.5 billion. In 2022 alone, the program will pay…

The Cost of Climate: America’s Growing Flood Risk

02/22/21
New research from First Street Foundation analyzes the economic impact of underestimated flood risk to properties throughout the United States. Current understandings of expected flood risk and its potential damage continue to underestimate the full…

Insure Our Future, Not Fossil Fuels

12/23/19
Insure Our Future holds the insurance industry accountable for its role supporting the drivers of climate change. The campaign is calling on insurers to stop insuring and investing in coal and tar sands projects and…

Seeking Higher Ground: How to Break the Cycle of Repeated Flooding with Climate-Smart Flood Insurance Reforms

07/25/17
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was designed to help Americans recover from flood disasters, but it can also unintentionally trap homeowners who would prefer to move somewhere safer. Instead of moving, many policyholders find…

MORE NEWS

What New York homeowners and renters should know about flood insurance.

By Tara Siegel Bernard   09/29/23  
It’s an unfortunate fact: Standard homeowners’ and renters’ insurance policies don’t cover damages caused by flooding.
Read more

Extreme weather could cause insurance rates across the country to spike

By Brianna Crane   09/27/23  
Millions of homeowners nationwide are facing higher insurance rates due to the risk of wildfires, high winds and flooding, a new analysis finds. About 12 million properties may see premium hikes because of the risk…
Read more

California plans big insurance shifts as climate change hits home

By Brianna Sacks   09/22/23  
California top leaders announced Thursday that they are making reforms to the state’s insurance system to stabilize the market, a big shift in one of the nation’s most disaster-prone states with one of the world’s…
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US Home Insurance ‘Bubble’ Closer to Popping as Climate Risks Mount

By Leslie Kaufman   09/20/23  
Home insurance costs that have soared in much of the US may get even higher. Tens of millions of properties around the country are insured at prices that haven’t caught up with the danger of…
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How Crop Insurance Prevents Some Farmers From Adapting to Climate Change

By Grey Moran   09/20/23  
Chris Grotegut has earned a reputation in the High Plains of Texas for farming practices that have helped replenish the region’s depleted aquifer. Just over a decade ago, he began converting his 11,000-acre farm to…
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Insurance premiums could surge in these American cities because of climate disasters, new data shows

By Ella Nilsen and Krystina Shveda   09/20/23  
Millions of American homeowners could see insurance rates surge in the coming years in part due to worsening climate disasters, new data shows.
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Rates climbing for Louisiana’s insurer of last resort

By Chelsea Brasted   09/20/23  
Homeowners insurance rates from Louisiana's insurer of last resort increased by 63% on average, and National Flood Insurance Program premiums will increase by 234% on average this year, according to a new report.
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Insurance Majors Invest In Fossil Fuels While Cutting Coverage Due To Climate Risks

By Steve Hanley   09/19/23  
A new report unveiled this month finds that the US insurance sector held $536 billion in fossil fuel-related assets in 2019, despite some insurers citing climate-related risk and natural disasters as factors in raising premiums…
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The debate over crop insurance, as climate change drives the price up

By Frank Morris   09/14/23  
Climate change is making insuring crops more risky, but the federally subsidized crop insurance program's payouts are up 500%. With a new Farm Bill coming, critics want to rethink the program.
Read more

Climate Change Is Causing an Insurance Crisis in Louisiana

By Leslie Kaufman   09/11/23  
A little over a year ago, Peter Gardner, a Louisiana developer, completed rehabbing an apartment building with 144 units and got a surprise so ugly it made him decide to move his business out of…
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Insurance Companies Lambasted for Their Climate Disaster Protection Racket

By Jordan Haedtler and Brad Johnson   09/09/23  
Yesterday, as Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Hong Kong suffered deadly, record-shattering flooding, Hurricane Lee exploded into a ferocious Category 5 storm in the Atlantic, the United Kingdom hit its most extreme September heatwave, and a…
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As climate-fueled weather disasters hit more U.S. farms, the costs of insuring agriculture have skyrocketed

By Georgina Gustin   09/07/23  
The country’s farmers took in a record $19 billion in insurance payments in 2022, many because of weather-related disasters, according to a new analysis that suggests climate change could stoke the cost of insuring the…
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Climate Change Means Californians Need Flood Insurance Now, Too

By Todd Woody   09/05/23  
Californians know wildfires and earthquakes; hurricanes, not so much. So when Tropical Storm Hilary inundated Southern California in normally bone-dry August, it showed just how exposed homeowners are to a growing financial risk from unpredictable…
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Home insurers cut natural disasters from policies as climate risks grow

By Jacob Bogage   09/03/23  
In the aftermath of extreme weather events, major insurers are increasingly no longer offering coverage that homeowners in areas vulnerable to those disasters need most. At least five large U.S. property insurers — including Allstate,…
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Congress faces ticking clock on flood insurance as hurricane season picks up

By Aris Folley   09/01/23  
Congress is facing a time crunch to prevent a lapse for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as hurricane season intensifies. As fears of a shutdown swirl around a heated funding debate in Washington, D.C.,…
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As flood risk changes, many communities brace for insurance rate shock

By Kery Murakami   09/01/23  
Earlier this year, much of Valley City, Illinois, was underwater because of another flood from the Illinois River. According to a news report, the town, which has a history of flooding, appeared “like a ghost…
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Insurers brace for Idalia claims, UBS estimates $9.36 billion cost in Florida

By Noor Zainab Hussain and Others   08/31/23  
Insurers were expected to face claims for billions of dollars from Hurricane Idalia which made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, adding to a challenging year for the industry that could result in higher premiums for…
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Idalia now a hurricane and could be a multi-billion dollar event for re/insurers

By Luke Gallin   08/29/23  
Idalia has now reached hurricane strength and the latest update from the NHC says that the storm is expected to become an extremely dangerous major hurricane before making landfall on the Florida coast early Wednesday.
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Florida’s already-volatile insurance industry is bracing for Hurricane Idalia

By Eva Rothenberg   08/29/23  
As it churns toward the disaster-prone Sunshine State, Hurricane Idalia could be a litmus test for Florida’s increasingly volatile and expensive insurance landscape.
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What your insurer is trying to tell you about climate change

By Juliette Kayyem   08/28/23  
Having worked for decades in conservation nonprofits, Beth Pratt, who lives high in the Sierra Foothills in Midpines, California, understands how climate change is putting her home at ever greater risk. Her community is experiencing…
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Ron DeSantis Gets Good News for Florida’s Insurance Crisis

By Nick Mordowanec   08/28/23  
Floridians experiencing spiked insurance premiums and limited options to deal with them have received some government assistance that may alleviate some of their financial woes and give some respite to Governor Ron DeSantis.
Read more

Commercial Real Estate Is Getting Walloped By Climate Change

By Matthew Zeitlin   08/24/23  
It’s not just homeowners starting to feel the effects of extreme weather on their insurance bills. The commercial real estate sector, some $20 trillion worth of property from cell-phone towers to apartment complexes to office…
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How a Small Group of Firms Changed the Math for Insuring Against Natural Disasters

By Emily Flitter   08/16/23  
As disasters like the wildfires that devastated the Hawaiian town of Lahaina and the storms that tore apart roofs from Alabama to Massachusetts last week intensify, insurance companies have pulled back from offering coverage in…
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Insured losses from Maui wildfires at least $1 bln – Moody’s

By Simon Jessop   08/15/23  
The shells of burned houses and buildings are left after wildfires driven by high winds burned across most of the town in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, U.S. August 11, 2023. Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural…
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Feds urge judge to reject flood insurance program challenge by Florida, other states

By Jim Saunders   08/10/23  
The Biden administration this week urged a federal judge to reject a challenge by Florida and other states to an overhaul of the National Flood Insurance Program that has led to higher premiums for many…
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Hurricane season: What to know when buying a house in a flood zone on Long Island

By Arielle Dollinger   08/10/23  
On days when road turned to river, Lisa Ludwig donned hip waders for walks to the bus stop with her school-aged children. With a kid on her back, she sloshed up the street, then turned…
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DOJ: Toss states’ lawsuit over flood insurance rates

By Thomas Frank   08/09/23  
The federal government is asking a Louisiana judge to throw out a potentially momentous lawsuit that would stop millions of people from being forced to pay higher rates for federal flood insurance.
Read more

Unprecedented levels of damage from storms this year is upending US towns and the insurance industry

By Michelle Chapman   08/09/23  
Waves of severe thunderstorms in the U.S. during the first half of this year led to $34 billion in insured losses, an unprecedented level of financial damage in such a short time, according to Swiss…
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Extreme heat is the deadliest natural disaster. FEMA can’t treat it like one

By Ella Nilsen   08/08/23  
Extreme heat is far deadlier than other natural disasters, killing on average more than twice as many people each year as hurricanes and tornadoes combined, according to data tracked by the National Weather Service.
Read more

How Florida let a top insurer abandon homeowners in their time of greatest need

By Brianna Sacks   08/04/23  
Every week or so, Edward Raggie walks through his front door and enters a painful, infuriating time warp. Everything looks exactly the way it did that day in December, when he and his wife, Joanne…
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Another company avoids risky Florida home insurance policies: Here’s what caused the crisis

By Kinsey Crowley   07/19/23  
Insuring a home in Florida got a little bit more difficult this week after AAA joined a growing list of companies that are ending some homeowner insurance policies in Florida.
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Florida Man Blames ‘Wokeness’ for Fragile Insurance Market

By Angely Mercado   07/19/23  
Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s chief financial officer, is threatening to investigate insurance companies that leave the state. Patronis blames “wokeness” for the moves, not rampant lawsuits or climate change.
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FEMA Has So Far Paid Out Less Than 1% of What Congress Allocated for Victims of New Mexico Wildfire

By Megan Gleason and Patrick Lohmann   07/17/23  
A couple months after two planned fires escaped to become the largest wildfire in New Mexico history, President Joe Biden promised to “fully compensate survivors.” Late last year, Congress allocated $3.95 billion to do so.
Read more

Insurance Firms Abandon Homeowners

07/17/23  
Last week, two insurance firms, Farmers and AAA, said they would no longer sell homeowners insurance in Florida, leaving middle-class homeowners no longer be able to afford to rebuild or insure the homes they’ve occupied…
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FEMA set to run out of money before peak hurricane season

By Jacob Knutson   07/15/23  
The federal government's disaster relief fund is on pace to run out of money at the height of both the hurricane and wildfire seasons, a top official warned this week. Why it matters: Government funding…
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Florida rocked by home insurance crisis: ‘I may have to sell up and move’

By Jedidajah Otte   07/15/23  
Households in Florida, the third most populous state in the US, have been grappling for some time with a property insurance crisis that is making home ownership unaffordable for many. After at least six insurers…
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‘Bud Light of insurance’: Florida official blames insurer crisis on wokeness

07/13/23  
Farmers Insurance is now the fourth major home insurer to leave Florida. With no real solution to this growing problem, the DeSantis administration is blaming wokeness. "This is not about wokeness—this is about the weather,"…
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Vermont Is the Soggy Edge of America’s Flood Insurance Crisis

By Emily Pontecorvo   07/12/23  
Torrential rain drowned parts of New York State and Vermont this week, bringing “historic and catastrophic” flooding, in the words of Vermont governor Phil Scott. Now, as the immediate horror of the event recedes and…
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Florida Insurance Crisis Explained: Why Multiple Insurers Are Leaving State

By Khaleda Rahman   07/12/23  
Farmers Insurance has become the latest insurance company to pull out of Florida, despite repeated efforts by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state legislature to shore up the volatile market.
Read more

What is flood insurance, and why do you need it?

By Eva Rothenberg   07/12/23  
Highlands, New York, was underwater and under a state of emergency as devastating floods swept the area this weekend. Gov. Kathy Hochul warned of “life-threatening flooding,” and nearby West Point saw a 1-in-1000-year rainfall on…
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Why Insurance Companies Are Fleeing Florida

By Matthew Zeitlin   07/12/23  
The Florida insurance market took another hit this week when Farmers announced it would pull out of the state, leaving around 100,000 customers unable to renew their policies.
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Farmers Insurance Pulls Out of Florida’s Shaky Market

By Angely Mercado   07/12/23  
Farmers Insurance will stop offering insurance coverage in the state of Florida. This includes home insurance, auto, and policies that cover a combination of these. Apparently, the company made this decision in order to better…
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Farmers Insurance pulls out of Florida, affecting 100,000 policyholders

By Jordan Valinsky   07/12/23  
Farmers Insurance will stop offering its policies in Florida, including home, auto and umbrella policies, in a change that will force thousands of people to change their insurance provider. Farmers Insurance will stop offering its…
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Another major insurance company limits new homeowners insurance in California

By Ramishah Maruf   07/11/23  
Farmers Insurance has limited new homeowners insurance policies in California, joining other major national insurance providers. Farmers, the second-largest provider of homeowners insurance in the state, said it placed the cap on the number of…
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Farmers Insurance is leaving its business in Florida

By Hannah Morse   07/11/23  
Another property insurer is dropping coverage in Florida. Farmers Insurance will stop writing new business and not renew its existing “Farmers-branded” automobile, home and umbrella policies in the Sunshine State, the company said Tuesday.
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UN climate alliance scraps emissions rules for insurers after exodus

By Tommy Wilkes   07/06/23  
The Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) has ditched all requirements for members to set or publish greenhouse gas emission-reduction targets, the U.N. said on Wednesday, a major rewrite of its rules after U.S. political pressure led…
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Houston-area school districts see rising disaster insurance costs, another funding test to juggle

By Catherine Dominguez   07/03/23  
As Houston area school districts face funding challenges, many are juggling sharp increases in disaster insurance premiums with limited carrier options. Conroe ISD received a non-renewal notice from Texas-based Affiliated Insurance Agents regarding its disaster…
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Don’t Overlook This Key Factor When Considering Retirement Relocation

By Bob Carlson   06/29/23  
A long-neglected factor to consider when choosing a residence is becoming more and more important to those who relocate in retirement. Because many people don’t consider the factor, it’s causing a lot of financial pain.
Read more

Amid heat waves and drought, crop insurance costs skyrocket

By James Osborne   06/28/23  
In Gaines County, a hot and dry stretch of West Texas with a population of fewer than 22,000 people, cotton farmers don’t just rely on federal crop insurance to save them in bad years --…
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Remarks By Assistant Secretary For Financial Institutions Graham Steele At Event Hosted By The Brookings Institution’s Assessing Insurance Regulation And Supervision Of Climate-related Financial Risk

06/28/23  
As the Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, my portfolio includes developing the Department’s policy views on banks, credit unions, consumer protection, access to capital, and financial sector cybersecurity matters. My remarks will focus on the…
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