State Farm move could mean less homeowner coverage

State Farm is proposing changes to home insurance deductibles that consumer advocates warn would reduce the amount consumers could collect on claims.

As part of a notice to Texas insurance regulators that it plans to hike homeowner rates an average 9.6 percent in October, the state's largest insurer also said it plans to move all current customers to a minimum 1 percent deductible starting in December.

That means deductibles would be charged as a percentage of the home's insured value rather than a flat dollar amount.

For example, the owner of a house insured for $200,000 with a flat $1,000 deductible and a $10,000 claim would collect $9,000 from an insurer. With a 1 percent deductible, however, the homeowner would only recover $8,000 because the 1 percent deductible translates to $2,000.

With a 5 percent deductible, the same homeowner would collect nothing from the insurance company.

Higher claims, costs

State Farm is making the changes because of higher claims volumes and costs, said spokesman Kevin Davis . Shifting more costs to the homeowner allows the company to limit increases on premiums, he said.

The company has paid more than $350 million in catastrophe claims in 2011 to date, mainly "due to spring hail storms and wildfires," he said.

Insurers have historically required percentage deductibles in wind and hail policies and have offered them as a lower-cost option for other types of coverage.

About 60 percent of policies other than for wind and hail now are sold with percentage deductibles, according to the Office of Public Insurance Counsel , a consumer agency in Austin. The rest are sold with flat-dollar deductibles, the most common being $1,000.

Allstate, the state's second-largest insurer, offers fixed-dollar deductibles, although many policyholders have a 1 percentage deductible, said spokesman Joe McCormick .

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