Insurance Rant

[Papa]

Wow! I got all kinds of great news in the mailbox today. I was informed by my health insurance that the asthma medication I've been taking for ten years won't be covered by my insurance anymore and I need to switch to a different medication. Next, I get another notice from my health insurance that a major provider will no longer be in-network. So, I get to find a new doctor and drive fifteen miles farther to the closest hospital that is in-network. Finally, I get my home insurance renewal and it increased 30% over last year with no claims. Colorado obviously had tremendous insurance losses last year with the fire that wiped out over 1,000 homes, but a 30% increase is absolutely ridiculous. Are other states seeing these same issues?

[65 Cobra Dude]

I feel your pain Dave! My flood insurance went from $1300/yr to $3400/yr recently and I’ve never had a flood claim. FEMA decided to rezone us and put us in one of the highest flood zones! That and all the contractors are raping us for repairs with timelines years out for pool cages and other repairs!

Henry

[Skuzzy]

Inflation might be the primary culprit. The price to rebuild our home has more than doubled in the last 10 years.

As far as health insurance goes, it is the same story. Health care costs have spiraled out of control.

[ggunter]

The insurance companies invest your premiums. And normally they make billions. We have all seen the stock market in the last year. See where I'm going. They have to make up the downturn in revenue somewhere. Guess where that will be?

[weendoggy]

Colorado is not the only state dealing with enviromental impacts. Out here in CA. we had quite a few in the last few years. Even though I live in a "rural area" and not impacted by fire, our insurance company just said they were'nt going to renew the policy a few years ago. Some residental neighborhoods right on the ocean got notices of huge increases as well. I found another carrier and even in the last two years it has gone up (no claims/damage), just like everything else. Oh, auto insurance has gone up too (no claims) and I've been with them over 50yrs.

[Papa]

Thanks for bringing me back from the edge. :o

I just don't see how the insurance industry is sustainable. At some point they'll simply price everyone out of their product. Something is going to have to change with the business model or we'll all be uninsured.

[GoDadGo]

We've seen stuff like this in Louisiana ever since Katrina. (August 29, 2005)
Hurricane deductibles go into effect as soon as a storm is named.
They now name Tropical Storms instead of waiting the gets classified as a Cat-1.

[rthomas98]

Insurance shopping is a way of life in Michigan. Our premiums are so high you have to to keep hopping to keep everything reasonable. Although so far I have been impressed with progressive they haven't raised my rates in almost 3 years now on my cars and house.
As far as health insurance I am kind of gaming the system a bit. My wife uses a specialized medication that the RX company pays for the majority of the deductible. So I keep the cheapest insurance from my employer and always hit max to pay by the end of feb and all free after that all complements of the RX company "assistance". Not looking forward to when I have to dip into the retail market for health insurance as I am sure that help will go away.

[Skuzzy]

Thanks for bringing me back from the edge. :o

I just don't see how the insurance industry is sustainable. At some point they'll simply price everyone out of their product. Something is going to have to change with the business model or we'll all be uninsured.

The only way to stop it is to stop inflation, but that is not going to happen. The raw material suppliers have a shortage (real or created) and they seize the opportunity to increase prices (idiotic supply and demand model) and from there it snowballs. The builder raises prices to compensate for the material increase and uses that opportunity to add a bit more profit margin, and so on. Eventually, the raw material guy is paying more for his buildings, so he increases prices so he can increase his pay to cover the expense increase.

It is a vicious cycle repeated in every industry, on a daily basis. The cycle is shorter for some things, longer for others.

[Windsor]

Wow! I got all kinds of great news in the mailbox today. I was informed by my health insurance that the asthma medication I've been taking for ten years won't be covered by my insurance anymore and I need to switch to a different medication. Next, I get another notice from my health insurance that a major provider will no longer be in-network. So, I get to find a new doctor and drive fifteen miles farther to the closest hospital that is in-network. Finally, I get my home insurance renewal and it increased 30% over last year with no claims. Colorado obviously had tremendous insurance losses last year with the fire that wiped out over 1,000 homes, but a 30% increase is absolutely ridiculous. Are other states seeing these same issues?

My kids bought a house in Evergreen and said that they could only find one insurance company that would cover their house due to the (forest) fire risk.

Sounds like most of them just quit offering insurance in risky areas.

[F500guy]

Same issue across the country. Here in the Portland Burbs-No Tornadoes, no Hurricanes, no forest fires and possible the "big one" earthquake in future-still 20-25% increase. I think the sad part is the ability of insurance companies to stop offering insurance due to risk. Similar to flood insurance, I think there will need to be a pool of risk assessment that requires home owners to purchase riders for said events when in risk areas so at least coverage would be available. Not saying cheap, but available.

[Fman]

Same here on homeowners insurance in CA, been with Farmers for 25 years and have been at our current house for six years and rates increased every year now almost double what we were paying when we moved in and I have never made a claim. I live in the country and still considered a low fire risk area. One big factor is the cost of replacement has increased because building materials and labor are so much more expensive. On top of this CA has had major home loss with all the fires in the state, everyone ends up paying for this one way or another. My agent also told me in CA some insurance companies are not even writing policies for homes anymore AND auto polices as well because of the cost of labor and down time required to fix a vehicle. Fortunately my medical insurance has been good but I am sure subject to change as well.

On a positive note we are getting some great rain this season! Best snowpack start in 40 years:cool:

[Namrups]

Upstate NY here. 2 years ago we had a major wind/rain storm and my roof started to leak. Put a claim in and was told that my roof was too old to be covered! The sad thing is, now days, it was cheaper to replace the roof myself than it was to get a lawyer to fight it.

On the health side, due to my cancer meds my ability to fight off an infection is low. My doctor wanted to give me an infusion that would raise my ability but the insurance company would not allow it. They said they wanted to see a history of infections (that would kill me being unable to fight them) before they would approve ..... Here's your sign!

[Papa]

I had a good discussion with my insurance agent. He provided a three-page reply to my questions and is looking at options that will help me reduce the cost of my premiums without reducing coverage. Part of this is exploring new underwriters that he's just starting to work with and another option is for me to take on some additional risk with a higher deductible. We'll see where it goes, but I may simply start shopping for new products. The issue with that is that it usually only yields better rates for the first year or two before you're right back where you started and have to do it all over again. This works for a few years untill you've exhausted all the options and become a "previously insured" with all the quality providers.

[bil1024]

Still good in NY, only slight increase in home ins

[Alan_C]

Fortunately, my homeowners insurance here in AZ has not risen significantly like yours. I have been wondering if the policy is keeping up with inflation as fire is our greatest threat too. Our home values have doubled in 6 years and the cost of labor by contractors is crazy high. I tried to build a 1000 sq. ft. addition to my garage and contractor pricing was %100K to $120K, way too much plus the Fed rate increases priced me out for now.
Yeah, Cali, Colorado, and New Mexico have all had significant losses so the insurance companies are looking to recover, but I agree 30% is a bit much. I could be worse, you could live in Florida.