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Gulf Coast Looks To Secure Affordable Storm Insurance

In the wake of back-to-back April tornadoes that produced over $2.45 billion in damage, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley created the 32-member Affordable Homeowners Insurance Commission (AHIC) to tackle the problem of homeowners’ insurance availability on the coast and find ways to make insurance more readily available and affordable to catastrophe prone coastal regions. “The insurance commission needs to give hope to Alabama citizens that insurance will live up to its calling to provide the way through a catastrophe,’’ said Michelle Kurtz, an AHIC member and member of the Homeowners’ Hurricane Insurance Initiative (HHII), a southern Alabama-based grass roots citizens’ group that’s pushing for insurance industry oversight by the state and lower insurance rates. HHII representatives are asking the state to force insurance companies to be more transparent and provide facts and figures on how they calculate their rates, and to offer coastal citizens reduced insurance rates. Alabama legislators and the AHIC are also weighing the creation of an insurance authority for Alabama’s two coastal counties that would help cover windstorm deductibles for homeowners. Probate Judge Tim Russell, who chairs the commission, said such an authority would have the power to issue catastrophe bonds to cover catastrophic events. State-subsidized windstorm insurance programs in Gulf Coast states, called insurers of last resort, have in the past decade faced explosive growth and continued uncertainty over whether the funds could sustain another multi-billion-dollar hit. The Texas association is funded through policyholder premiums, assessments on property insurance providers, reinsurance and a catastrophe reserve trust fund, according to the department. Presently, the Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association, also known as the “Alabama Beach Pool,” provides coastal windstorm coverage to those who cannot receive coverage elsewhere.

Mississippi May Mandate Homeowner Insurance Discounts for ...

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said he is working with legislators on a bill that would require insurers to offer discounts to homeowners who have strengthened homes against wind damage.

State officials told the Sun Herald that they hope the reinforcement of roofing, doors, windows and other components also will qualify homeowners for insurance discounts, although there are no guarantees.

The Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration is overseeing a $23 million program in which FEMA would pay 75 percent of the cost to strengthen their homes against wind damage. DFA officials said the homeowner must pay a $250 inspection fee and a 25 percent of construction costs.

Chaney said he and Gulf Coast legislators are working on construction standards that would qualify for discounts, for both new and retrofitted homes.

“Mitigation is the key to lowering rates on the coast,” Chaney said. “If you build a stronger home or strengthen your existing home to a stronger standard and stay out of the flood plain, that’s the key.”

Several sets of standards are now in play for strengthening homes.

The state wind pool applies a tiered system of discounts for retrofits, which differ from those in the DFA program.

The insurance industry, through its nonprofit Institute for Business and Home Safety, has a third set of standards.

The DFA program works within FEMA’s hazard mitigation program guidelines. The program is strictly designed to protect against wind damage, not provide insurance-rate relief.

“Homeowners on the Gulf Coast want to know how they can get a discount on their insurance,” said Rep. Scott Delano, R-Biloxi. “We in the state have been saying that mitigation is a way to lower insurance rates. This program, unfortunately, does not make that connection. We, the state, need to do a better a job of making that connection and that’s what we’re working on now.

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