Mike Litt directs U.S. PIRG’s national campaign to protect consumers on Wall Street.
Michael DeLong joined the Consumer Federation of America in April 2020.
Families in Ohio and across America are experiencing firsthand that climate change-driven severe weather is a major factor, increasing the cost of claims and driving up premiums.
Homeowners are opening their insurance renewal notices and finding premiums they can no longer afford, if they can even get coverage at all.
Some insurance companies are pulling out of entire regions.
Not only are customers paying more to get coverage, but they are getting less of it. In high-risk areas, deductibles have been rising relative to coverage.
Between 2021 and 2024, property insurance premiums rose 23% in Ohio and 24% nationwide. But granular information about these rising insurance costs, for example, the raw dollar amounts of premium increases, where problems are most severe or what types of housing are hardest hit, is difficult to find.
As a result, homeowners lack clear, reliable data to help them decide where to live and how to protect their homes and finances.
Does changing weather make it imperative to invest in weatherproofing? What insurance options exist and are suitable for certain homes in certain locations?
This missing data also stymies researchers and public officials seeking solutions because assessing financial risks related to homeowners insurance is crucial for addressing them.
Ultimately, we need to take action to reduce the air pollution driving extreme, climate-related weather that contributes to increasing damages to our homes in the first place.
But in the meantime, insurance regulators can help close the information gap by releasing complete, transparent data to help deal with the ensuing risks.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which is made up of insurance regulators from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories, serves as the industry’s standard-setting body.
After years of urging from consumer, climate and housing groups, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has taken an important, long-overdue first step toward providing this critical information.
This year, it started collecting from insurance companies more comprehensive ZIP code-level data, such as policy type, claims and losses sorted by peril, and the number of policies with mitigation discounts.
The regulators have announced a plan to release a public report explaining these variables early next year.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is convening in Columbus this week for its summer national meeting. Insurance commissioners plan to discuss the potential scope of the public report.
To ensure the report provides the most useful information for policymakers and consumer advocates so they can better understand and respond to the escalating homeowners insurance crisis, we recommend that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners include the following:
Insurance regulators have taken an important first step to help U.S. homeowners and renters dealing with unprecedented changes and challenges in both our climate and our economic climate.
It’s not a minute too soon.
Truly meeting the moment will require releasing complete and useful data to the public as soon as possible so that consumers and decision-makers alike can make informed decisions in the face of increasing risks and costs.
Mike Litt directs U.S. PIRG’s national campaign to protect consumers on Wall Street and in the financial marketplace by defending the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and works for stronger privacy protections and corporate accountability in the wake of the Equifax data breach.
Michael DeLong joined the Consumer Federation of America in April 2020 as the research and advocacy associate for CFA’s Campaign for Fair Auto Insurance. In this role, he conducts research on auto insurance and advocates for better, fairer and more affordable practices that will protect consumers.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Severe weather making insurance costs soar as key info is kept under wraps | Opinion
Reporting by Mike Litt and Michael Delong, Guest Columnists / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mike Litt and Michael Delong, Guest Columnists | USA TODAY Network
