Insurers' Retreat From US Coastline Continues - Baltimore Sun

[hatrack]

As insurance companies retreat from their coverage of coastal areas along the Eastern Seaboard, legislators in Annapolis and other state capitals are stepping in to protect homeowners faced with fewer and fewer options.

Maryland legislators have grilled insurance executives at hearings and introduced bills that would force companies to cover all areas of the state. Lawmakers also are looking at granting the state's top regulator more authority over the industry, and offering tax breaks to encourage residents to safeguard their homes against storm damage.

The confrontation comes as Allstate Corp., State Farm Insurance Cos. and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. - three of the largest insurers in Maryland - have moved to limit their liability along the Atlantic Coast and in some cases near the Chesapeake Bay, areas feared to be at heightened risk from hurricanes. Similar changes have been made in other coastal areas; State Farm recently decided to stop selling new policies on homes and small businesses in all of Mississippi.

"We have to send the message you just can't pick and choose based on some prediction of what may happen in the future," said Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat. "If things were 100 percent guaranteed, you wouldn't need insurance."

EDIT

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.coastal18feb18,0,240422.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

[Captain Hilts]

1. What's the surprise? Health insurance companies do the same thing every day. nt

[Thickasabrick]

2. I don't agree with forcing private insurance companies to

insure risky areas. If they do, the property owner should have to pay out the nose for living there if he wants coverage. I also don't want the government to insure vacation homes on the beach with my tax dollars.

I say, let the coastal areas turn back into wilderness areas.

[sam sarrha]

3. the south coast may become uninhabitable

[tularetom]

4. This is gonna piss off a lot of people but for once

I don't blame the insurance companies. Why make a bet you're almost guaranteed to lose? Sounds to me like those insurers have pretty much bought into global warming, they know it's inevitable and they don't want to risk their investor's money paying off claims from people who didn't act wisely.

[Moby Grape]

5. if you don't like it, move n/t

[kurth]

6. Beachfront condo owners can insure themselves

without taxpayer subsidies.

[williesgirl]

7. I agree they should have to insure an entire state, not cherry pick it. They've made their

millions off these homeowners and now that they may have a risk, they're trying to bolt.

Plus, keep in mind, at least in the case of Allstate, they are charging all of their customers for Katrina, etc. My premium went sky high - when I called to see why, they informed me that $300 of the semi-annual increase was to cover those losses. I promptly found a small insurance company with reasonable rates, and tossed Allstate because of it. I live on a mountain, not in a flood or hurricane zone.