Bay Area Houston

Underwhelming to say the least.

If you would like to read the report on the interim charges to the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee it is available online here starting on page 19. It is interim charge 7 titled “Addressing the Rising Cost of Insurance. It is only 2 pages. Here are my notes/thoughts.

• The Committee held a hearing on Oct 1. The testimony was dominated by the industry.
• Texas has the 2nd largest market in the nation bringing in $290 Billion in premiums.
• The increase in premiums are due to climate change, inflation, labor expenses, supply chain disruptions and reinsurance (LOL. They are using climate change against us to increase our premiums. Inflation is well under control and has been for a while but it did NOT account for a doubling of premiums. Supply chain disruptions were corrected years ago.)
• They ignored the inflated cost of roofing after an event such as hail or extreme weather. Why does a roof cost $24,000 to replace after an event, but only $6000 at other times?
• They blame us for not “shopping around”.
• TDI stated only 4 companies left Texas in 2024 but ignored comments from area such as the Bay Area where 5 of 6 members of the Texas Coalition for Affordable Insurance Solutions (TCAIS) will not longer write policies.
• There was a significant uptick in the Texas Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan from 72,626 to 91,841 from 2003 to 2024.
• TDI claims homeowners in Texas saw an average rate increase of 21% in 2023. I’m not sure if that is a rise in rates or premiums which are two different things.
• TDI reviewed 1313 rate filings with 107 filings withdrawn, 78 rejected for administrative discrepancies. They did not disclose how many rate increases were rejected by TDI.
• The recommendations are basic if not ridiculous.
  • Implement guardrails to protect against unfair pricing practices, which could include, but is not limited to, rate filings and premiums assessed to policyholders.
  • Support the efforts of both TDI and OPIC to improve notice to policyholders about rate changes, coverage reductions, and comparison-shopping tools.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 3rd, 2025 at 7:24 am and is filed under Consumer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.