Idaho Commissioner Looks at Home Hardening

 The Idaho Department of Insurance is looking for a solution to insurers leaving the state. In 2023 there were 91 carriers active in Idaho. Depending on who gives you the numbers, by the first of April, Idaho saw 22 to 25 leaving the state’s homeowners insurance market.

It’s a big concern for Idaho Insurance Commissioner Dean Cameron.

“We started seeing in our own marketplace, some of the carriers also being a little more cautious about who they would insure and how they would insure them,” Cameron said.

Over half of the states in the U.S. — 26 in all — have a FAIR Plan to help insure homes that insurers won’t touch. The insurer of last resort so to speak. Idaho isn’t one of them but Cameron isn’t necessarily upset by that.

“It's part of the reason carriers are leaving other states — because those fair plans are causing them to pay assessments or bills for others that they have no control over,” Cameron said but stressed that something needs to be done. “We recognize we need homeowners to be able to have coverage, so we are looking at other strategies to help them have coverage.”

One way to help is giving homeowners solutions to harden their homes against first. That means replacing wooden fences with metal fencing, cleaning gutters regularly and putting a green and wet space around the home to use as a fire buffer.

“Insurance companies rate based on the risks that they see,” Cameron said. “If you can show that you're less risky, then that does reflect in how they would rate you.”

The commissioner wants the Legislature to act and give homeowners a grant to help them pay for the expense of hardening their home.

“We encourage folks to do those kinds of things so they can make the argument to them that they are a reasonable risk to take on,” Cameron said.

Source link: KTVB-TV — https://bit.ly/43MBrOC