Bay Area Houston

If you have nothing better to do but wonder why your home insurance premiums have skyrocketed over the last decade after insurance reforms of 2003, come on by for a discussion on the topic. From the Bay Area Association of Democratic Women:

The Rising Cost of Home Insurance is Focus of BAAD Women Meeting on Sept. 18 

“John Cobarruvias, a consumer activist in the areas of new home construction and home insurance, will be the featured speaker at the BAAD (Bay Area Association of Democratic) Women meeting on Thursday, September 18. He will share his experiences as an activist and discuss the high cost of home insurance in the Bay Area, the history of home insurance reform and the actions of the Texas Windstorm Association (TWIA).” 

It all happens at the Bay Area Community Center in Clear Lake Park, located at 5002 NASA Parkway (across the street from lake) in Seabrook. The meeting, which is free and open to the public, begins with light refreshments at 6:30 p.m. followed by the program at 7 p.m.

The Texas Department of Insurance should be renamed to the Texas Department of Insurance Companies (Texas-DICS). They department as a whole (not the individuals working there) are as impotent as the Texas Ethics Commission, unable to do the job they were designed to do in the first place, protect the consumer. From Paul Burka of Texas Monthly:

As for the question of whether TDI is an ally of the insurance industry or an ally of consumers, the facts speak for themselves.

Burka was talking specifically about the 75% rate hike for long term health insurance, a hike the DICS eagerly approved. Ever since Rick Perry’s insurance reform of 2003 property rates have skyrocketed especially along the coastal areas. Under the banner of “less regulation”, TDI can only watch as the industry continues to raise premiums and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association continues to drown in debt. Much like the Texas Ethics Commission, they have become a paper tiger, a wet noodle, a worthless gathering of talented people willing, but unable, to do the work of the people. This is all by design.

Luckily for the insurance industry, most Texans are more concerned about their taxex going up $10/year than their mortgage going up $100/month due to a rise in home insurance. Texans tend to be easily distracted.

This is almost funny.

After a decade of “reforms” of the insurance industry, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association is on the brink of financial ruin. Prior to 2003 TWIA covered only 6% of the coastal areas, a truly last resort insurance option. Today they cover over 70% becoming the only resort for most home owners. And now after massive failure, the Texas Legislature passed a bill that allows TWIA to pass a surcharge to those in the coastal areas to bail out TWIA. From the Brownsville Herald:

The updated rules provide for a surcharge on auto and property insurance policies to help pay for claims if TWIA reserves are exhausted and if the first level of “post-event” bonds issued aren’t sufficient to cover claims.

So after a decade of promises of lower rates, better coverage, and lower premiums, the people along the coast, who voted for the people who made these promises, are now going to be the people who pay for it. The only thing they have left is to laugh at themselves for being such incredible, gullible, fools and for doing nothing about it.

So if you want to blame someone, blame yourself. If you want to complain, contact your State Representative, John Davis. He will be retiring and paying his insurance bill with your tax dollars. Your State Senator, Larry Taylor, owns an insurance agency and sells TWIA policies. You will be bailing him out also.

It’s almost funny.