Where We Stand: A Homeowners Insurance Bill of Rights
Where We Stand: A Homeowners Insurance Bill of Rights

The increasing frequency of extreme weather events, combined with the rising cost of repairs and building materials, has destabilized the home insurance market. Homeowners increasingly face skyrocketing premium prices, and many are losing coverage as insurance companies pull out of regional markets altogether. At the…
How Katrina became ‘the storm that told us what was to come’ for climate and insurance
How Katrina became ‘the storm that told us what was to come’ for climate and insurance

When Hurricane Katrina threatened New Orleans in August 2005, Mona Lisa Saloy thought she was safe. Saloy, an author and educator who also served for several years as Louisiana’s poet laureate, had inherited the 110-year-old “double shotgun” house in the mostly Black Seventh Ward where…
A Tiny Company Is Vouching for Risky Insurers
A Tiny Company Is Vouching for Risky Insurers

LaPlace, La., is the sort of town that is becoming a no-go zone for major insurance companies. Sandwiched between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain outside of New Orleans, it is only about 10 feet above sea level and has an alarming history of serious…
The INSURE Act: Could a New Federal Backstop Stabilize Home Insurance and Make Homes Insurable Again?
The INSURE Act: Could a New Federal Backstop Stabilize Home Insurance and Make Homes Insurable Again?

Across the country, homeowners are facing a home insurance crisis. Not only are premiums on the rise, but the policies themselves are becoming harder—and in some places, nearly impossible—to find. In states vulnerable to natural disasters like California, Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, major insurers are…
Schiff revives INSURE Act to create federal reinsurance program
Schiff revives INSURE Act to create federal reinsurance program

US Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has reintroduced the Incorporating National Support for Unprecedented Risks and Emergencies (INSURE) Act, legislation aimed at addressing instability in the residential insurance market through the creation of a federal catastrophic reinsurance program. The bill proposes a federally backed reinsurance mechanism…
Sen. Schiff Introduces Bill to Stabilize Insurance Market, Protect Homeowners from Increased Costs of Natural Disasters
Sen. Schiff Introduces Bill to Stabilize Insurance Market, Protect Homeowners from Increased Costs of Natural Disasters

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the Incorporating National Support for Unprecedented Risks and Emergencies (INSURE) Act, legislation to stabilize the home insurance market by creating a federal catastrophic reinsurance program. This bill will help keep insurance premiums affordable and provide…
Many people don’t realize their home insurance doesn’t cover flooding
Many people don’t realize their home insurance doesn’t cover flooding

Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana Wednesday night and has been dropping huge amounts of rain across much of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It’s now a tropical depression and is headed north into Tennessee. Some 14 million people have been under flood watches from…
State officials scramble as insurance companies abandon at-risk homeowners: ‘It’s the perfect storm’
State officials scramble as insurance companies abandon at-risk homeowners: ‘It’s the perfect storm’

“We just do not have companies willing to write business in Louisiana right now, and you can’t blame them.” Facing down a natural disaster is never ideal, but things are about to get even worse for Americans who are losing home insurance primarily as a…
Louisiana’s ‘business-friendly’ climate response: Canceled home insurance plans
Louisiana’s ‘business-friendly’ climate response: Canceled home insurance plans

Under a new state law, residents will no longer be protected from homeowners’ policy cancellations, higher deductibles or big rate increases. Louisiana homeowners will no longer have the assurance of holding onto their longtime property insurance policies after a damaging storm. And they could start…
As homeowner’s insurance prices climb, more Americans ask: Is it worth it?
As homeowner’s insurance prices climb, more Americans ask: Is it worth it?

It was 2019 when Anjali Tierra decided that homeowners insurance wasn’t worth the price. The retired high school teacher, 58, took out a policy in late 2018 after purchasing a three-bedroom home nestled in the Tehachapi Mountains of southern California. She considered the insurance affordable…
States beg insurers not to drop climate-threatened homes
States beg insurers not to drop climate-threatened homes

Property insurance companies say they’re taking losses amid escalating disasters. In the coming years, climate change could force Americans from their homes, not just by raising sea levels, worsening wildfires and causing floods — but also by putting insurance coverage out of reach. In places…
Small insurers are growing in Louisiana. Will more go insolvent after the next big storm?
Small insurers are growing in Louisiana. Will more go insolvent after the next big storm?

The dozen insurers that failed after two busy hurricane seasons left hundreds of thousands of Louisiana homeowners scrambling for new insurance policies at a time when premiums were soaring. A review of new state market share data and financial filings shows the void left by…
Insurers Are Deserting Homeowners After Natural Disasters
Insurers Are Deserting Homeowners After Natural Disasters

As increasingly severe natural disasters ravage the South, insurance companies are abandoning clients, increasing premiums, and fighting regulation measures — forcing homeowners to fend for themselves in the wake of destruction. As Hurricane Ida approached New Orleans on a sticky August morning in 2021, Janet…
Bach Talk: An insured future depends on bold public/private innovation
Bach Talk: An insured future depends on bold public/private innovation

By Amy Bach, Executive Director, United Policyholders So far 2024 has brought more bad news for property owners, public officials, lenders and home builders on the insurance availability and affordability fronts with non-renewals, scant options and high premiums. Front page news across the country. Rate…
Will climate change make your homeowners insurance unaffordable? Here’s what you need to know
Will climate change make your homeowners insurance unaffordable? Here’s what you need to know

With both premiums and sea levels rising, here’s how you can save money on homeowners insurance. Leigh C. knew that the homeowners insurance on her home in Black Forest, Colorado, an area just northeast of Colorado Springs, would be renewing soon. But when she opened…
Spooky Insurance News
Spooky Insurance News

There’s lots being said these days about the negative impact on home and business owners of reduced competition and coverage and sharply rising premiums resulting from insurers’ reactions to climate change, technology and inflation. The marketplace dynamics and political forces in play in Florida, Louisiana…
Mitigation Matters
Mitigation Matters

No matter where you live, if you’re a homeowner today, you need to do your best to maintain your property and take steps to avoid it being damaged or destroyed in a severe weather event. Why? 1) No place on earth is immune from risk…
Climate disasters make it harder to insure your home. Here’s what to know.
Climate disasters make it harder to insure your home. Here’s what to know.

Premiums are soaring and carriers are pulling back coverage, citing disaster risks. Climate change is a big factor, but there are others at play. Homeowners are bracing for hurricane and fire seasons, but with insurance premiums rising and carriers pulling back coverage in riskier states,…