Some of the largest U.S. insurance companies say extreme weather has led them to end certain coverages, exclude natural disaster protections and raise premiums
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What’s the fucking point of getting homeowner’s insurance if it’s not going to cover the most likely source of damage? Earthquakes, wildfires, floods, a tree falling on it during a storm? All natural disasters. Are people in florida going to ‘accidentally’ set their houses on fire to ensure they’ll be able to file a claim after a hurricane?
In Florida, the alternative is a (very expensive) state-funded program that acts as an insurer of last resort. With so many insurance firms cutting their losses and leaving the market, though, I suspect that program is about to be severely overloaded, while many Floridians also find their homes suddenly unaffordable. If there’s going to be a solution, it’s going to have to come from the state, but given that the party in power there is still firmly committed to pretending climate change is a hoax, I wouldn’t hold my breath. My guess is that there’s going to be a lot of migration away from Florida and other Republican-dominated coastal states as issues with cost and availability of insurance force homeowners to make some hard financial decisions.
