HOUSTON – The Texas House State Affairs Committee is hosting a hearing to examine the financial impact of insurance premiums on policyholders.
The Tuesday, September 17, at 9 a.m. agenda suggests lawmakers plan to ‘investigate solutions’ for policyholders by, “examin[ing] the impact of current economic challenges on the escalating costs of insurance premiums, including factors contributing to the withdrawal of insurance providers from certain markets. Investigate solutions to help Texans more easily and affordably obtain property and casualty insurance coverage,” the agenda reads. “Evaluate long-term strategies for shifting from state-funded insurance programs to sustainable private market alternatives.”
The hearing notice comes as Progressive Home Insurance shared with Securities and Exchange Commission its intention of “reducing” its Texas impact due to “weather-related volatility.” The company will no longer issue new policies to homeowners. Those currently with policies won’t be affected.
In the filing, the insurer writes that 40% of its 2024 second-quarter storm losses were in Texas.
“Weather events in Florida, Colorado, Missouri, and Nebraska contributed about another 30% to the total catastrophe losses for the quarter,” the filing reads. “We have responded, and plan to continue to respond, promptly to catastrophic events when they occur in order to provide high-quality claims service to our customers.”
In a statement to KPRC 2, Progressive maintains its commitment to current policyholders.
“We are temporarily restricting new homeowners (HO3) business for certain agents in several states. We remain committed to the property business in these states and expect that these actions will better position us to build a stronger, more stable, and more competitive Progressive Home business for consumers and independent agents in the long run,” a Progressive Home Insurance spokesperson said. “These actions will not impact any other lines of business in the affected states; impacted agents can continue to write Personal Auto, Recreational Lines, and Commercial Lines products. Additionally, property-appointed agents can continue to offer Renters, Condo, Flood, and Umbrella.”
Consumer advocate John Cobarruvias urges people impacted by rising claims, non-renewals, or other issues to submit comments to state legislators.
“This is your opportunity to make something happen in our favor,” Cobarruvias said. “Our premiums are too high. Our deductibles are out [of] the roof. And this is not sustainable. We’ve got to do something.”
Texas residents who want to submit comments for the meeting regarding insurance policies can do so by submitting a House Public Comment until the Sept. 17 hearing ends. While submitting comments make sure you select ‘Economic challenges impacting insurance premiums’ as the matter you’re addressing.
Beaman Floyd, the executive director of the lobby group Texas Coalition for Affordable Insurance Solutions, stresses to policyholders unhappy with their insurers to shop around.
“Get out there and shop for insurance,” Floyd said. “And even if you’ve had the bad fortune of having your policy non-renewed or being canceled by your company, it is highly likely, here in Texas, that you’re going to be able to find other, comparable coverage from another company.”
Floyd suggests the issue with Texas home insurance centers around inflation and severe weather.
“Texas has really, really tough weather. We have hail, we have tornadoes. We have, as you all know, sadly, hurricanes and tropical systems, we have wildfires. We have winter and ice storms here in Texas,” Floyd said. “The second issue is, stress is not only here in Texas, but nationwide, on the homeowner’s insurance market. And those stresses have been driven by our inflation during and immediately post Covid.”