Farmers Insurance pulls out of Florida, affecting 100,000 homeowners : usa

[–] Ep1cFac3pa1m 51 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The people who know a thing or two because they’ve seen a thing or two are getting the fuck out of Florida lol

[–] teft 29 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Insurance is a suckers game if you are trying to get insurance on a piece of land that will be underwater in the next few decades. Who wants to take on a risk that is guaranteed to happen?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Generally, insurance companies aren't taking that risk. They can decline to renew your policy if they give you 120 days notice, so, for the most part, they are only insuring the next year.

This is all about the immediate risk of major hurricanes and the rapidly climbing costs of rebuilds. I know people in Colorado are really struggling to rebuild because costs have risen so much recently and insurance didn't keep up. I recently moved insurers (to Farmers, ha) and increased my rebuild amount by nearly 30%. That certainly came with a policy hike, but gives me enough that I have reasonable confidence I could indeed rebuild a comparable house.

I suspect there's also a risk concentration problem with some insurers. I've got to imagine they are looking at massive computer models of possible hurricane tracks and seeing scenarios where there's an outsized exposure. Still, what is curious to me is that they can't price it in as that's essentially the business that they are in. Would the required rate increase really be that unpalatable?

[+] [email protected] -27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

People were saying Florida would be underwater “in a few decades” in 2005, almost a few decades ago…. And it’s not. Florida has a barrier island (it’s man made, I think) and mangroves, both of which slow land erosion along its coast.

Meanwhile there are people living there who need insurance

[–] teft 39 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The thing about insurance companies is they are out to make money. They don't care about philosophy or the blowing of the political winds. So for them to pull out of Florida they must have analyses that show that pulling out will make them more money than staying in the market. It doesn't matter if there are people there who need insurance, Farmers is out to make money not give it away in a bad investment.

[+] [email protected] -11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The problem is we allow them to subdivide the nation in their policies. The risk in Florida isn't shared across the nation, which would mitigate this issue.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So we should instead punish everyone else for not living in a documented flood plane?

[–] Buelldozer 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The risk in Florida isn’t shared across the nation, which would mitigate this issue.

I'm living in Wyoming at over a mile of elevation. What is my incentive to "share the risk" by paying higher insurance rates so that some asshole in Florida can keep their beach condo??? Same with the red nose and clown shoe wearing bozos that keep building homes in the fire prone areas of California.

If you can't afford insurance and you can't afford to rebuild then you can't afford to live there. It's that simple.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Like I said in other responses, being in the larger pool reduces your risk. They can still charge FLA residences for being in a higher risk zone. But pulling from a nationwide pool makes sure they can cover when a storm the size of the whole state swoops in and creates damage over such a large area. Isolating Florida just makes it impossible to cover. You would actually benefit by being in the larger pool. The more they isolate you, the higher the risk of the pool, which means premiums increase. This exact thing happened at my workplace when the insurance company created "healthy" and "unhealthy" pool. Premiums for both pools shot up. Everyone was better off all being in the larger pool, yes even with the "unhealthy" people in the pool. Same thing applies here.

[–] Buelldozer 5 points 1 year ago

It doesn't reduce the risk, it merely shares the cost across more people. You also don't seem to be aware that the Federal Government is already subsidizing Flood Insurance in Florida through the NFIP which is administered by FEMA. The people living there are already benefiting from distributed cost via direct contributions from Federal Tax money.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But that's the way insurance tends to work - actuaries look at the risk involved in ensuring person X or group X against threat Y and charge accordingly.

[–] mean_bean279 36 points 1 year ago

So like you’re just ignoring the “significant increase in flooding in south Florida over the last decade”? (Link)[https://piahs.copernicus.org/articles/382/207/2020/]

Florida is sinking, while sea levels are rising. It’s causing more frequent flooding, but it’s also claiming land every day. If Florida isn’t experiencing any of the issues that climate change brought about then I guess all of the insurance companies leaving, and marking “increased environmental disasters” as their biggest reason is more to do with… people eating too much McDonald’s? Or could it be that they’re leaving for the exact same reason that scientists have been saying for decades. Florida, much like the rest of the south, is sinking and hurricanes are increasing in both frequency and power. Which leads to more environmental disasters.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

When the seas rise on a porous state like Florida, they're going to flood from the ground up as much as from water rushing in from the coasts. The Florida water table is rising.

[–] TheMusicalFruit 10 points 1 year ago

No, there is not a barrier island that will stop flooding. And the mangroves can slow erosion where they are but will not prevent flooding.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's getting worse every year, as seen by insurance companies jacking up rates or pulling out entirely.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

So you're telling me you'll believe a big company with actuarial tables and a financial stake over some rando on the Internet? Typical... /s

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

But it's not just land erosion along the coast that you need to worry about.

Miami is already getting salt-water intrusion in the storm sewer system, which makes them run backwards. This will eventually intrude into the aquifer there as well making the water undrinkable without expensive filtration.

The limestone that all of south Florida sits on is literally being eaten away by ocean acidification.

That same limestone prevents any kind of dyke or seawall system from working.

Sinkholes are opening up in the middle of the state due to so much water being pumped out of the aquifer & it not being able to replenish fast enough.

It doesn't matter if people need insurance. Insurance companies aren't in the business of giving away money.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

People were saying Florida would be underwater “in a few decades” in 2005,

It would be useful to see the exact quote in context. Do you have it?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

“Hearing rumors @WeAreFarmers might pull out of Florida,” Patronis tweeted Monday afternoon. “If that’s true my office is going to explore every avenue possible for holding them accountable. Don’t get to leave after taking policyholder money.”

Oh, I’m sure that will fix everything, because republicans like Jimmy Patronis are SO good at holding corporations “accountable”.

[–] speedycat2014 19 points 1 year ago

I read about an 1800sf home in St Pete, not on a flood plane, yesterday... $8000+/year for homeowners insurance. 😳

Make America Florida, Rhonda Santis? I think fucking not....

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mfw refugees start boating around Florida to land in a non-garbage state.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

It's already happening: US Internal Refugee Crisis: 130-260k Trans People Have Already Fled

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

They're actually late to the game. A lot of insurance companies already pulled out.

[+] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] Buelldozer 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's been going on for decades now.

It's expensive as hell and 1% of Home Owners are sucking up 25% of the benefits.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It apparently already happened; either the state or feds gave three billion to the insurance companies, per the article. Fucking hell.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Not long if you're already rich

[–] Ejh3k 9 points 1 year ago

Capitalism!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Dun da dun dun - dun dun dun

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Florida's a shit hole and I'm glad to see the voters there getting what they deserve.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Please remember that there are a significant number of people who live there who didn't vote for DeSantis and don't like him (or Rick Scott before him, etc.). Those people don't deserve scorn.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Yup. Something like 400k GOP assholes moved here from other states during the last election cycle to avoid COVID restrictions. The ones that are still alive aren't voting for Democrats.

United States | News & Politics