Bay Area Houston

Progressive Insurance sent out a message to home owners and insurance agents in the Bay Area urging them to contact elected officials concerning an insurance bill. Just an FYI: Progressive will NOT write policies in the Bay Area.

Senate Bill 1643 will require an insurance company to justify their rate increases of more than 10% prior to using the new rates. Back in 2003 the Legislature removed the prior approval of rate increases and implemented a “File and Use” system allowing the insurance industry to raise rates, file them with the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), and immediately use the new rates. The rates could be challenged by TDI but they rarely do.

Needless to say the insurance industry is whining like a two year old, sending out emails to their agents and homeowners doing what they have been doing for the last 20 years, complain about turning into California with rate regulations. If they lived in the Bay Area they would realize that we ARE California! Rates have skyrocketed and deductibles are through the roof. Many companies including Progressive, will NOT write policies in the area. Their great “Free Market” lets them Flee the Market and they have. All the bill requires is justification for raising rates above 10%. If you can’t justify it, you shouldn’t be using it. It’s not regulating squat.

The hearing for the bill was scheduled in the House Insurance Committee has been canceled.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2025 at 7:20 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.