With many western North Carolina residents still lacking power and running water from Hurricane Helene, a hearing began Monday on the insurance industry’s request to raise homeowner premium rates statewide by more than 42% on average.
A top lieutenant for Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey opened what’s expected to be multiple weeks of witnesses, evidence and arguments by attorneys for the state Insurance Department and the North Carolina Rate Bureau, which represents insurance companies seeking the increase.
In over 2,000 pages of data filed last January, the Rate Bureau sought proposed increases varying widely from just over 4% in parts of the mountains to 99% in some beach areas. Proposed increases in and around big cities like Raleigh, Charlotte and Greensboro are roughly 40%.
Across 11 western counties that were hit hard by Helene, including Asheville’s Buncombe County, the requested increase is 20.5%. The percentages are based on insurance payouts of years past and future claims projections.
After taking public comment, Causey rejected the request in February, prompting the hearing. In previous rounds of premium rate requests, the industry and the commissioner have negotiated settlements before a hearing. Before the last such hearing set for early 2022, they settled weeks earlier on a 7.9% average premium rate increase after the bureau had sought 24.5%.
Posted by John3262005
2 Comments
Lack of insurance is going to be the biggest crisis Americans will be facing. It might de-populate Florida and I bet we see Florida had negative population growth next Census
And everyone’s first instinct is price caps on insurance, driving them out of entire states.