The Dallas Morning News has run an excellent series about Texas, a State of Neglect. This series has chronicled the state's failure to regulate various businesses, and the potential relationship between Lack of regulation and big political contributions from those businesses. The last of the series deals with homeowners insurance. Texans are paying more money for less coverage. Please read the entire article. Here are a few excerpts:
Six years
since a crisis in homeowners insurance compelled legislators to make
sweeping reforms, many Texans have less coverage but still pay some of
the highest premiums in the country.
More than a million Texas homeowners have
bare-bones policies that don't completely cover damage. Coverage that
once was routine no longer exists in many policies. Policies that cover
fewer risks or pay less have supplanted many that offered full
coverage.
And state oversight occurs in a political
environment in which industry lobbyists and campaign contributions are
prevalent.
While coverage diminished, Texas routinely
ranked among the leaders in average premiums. Statistics from the
National Association of Insurance Commissioners show the average annual
Texas premium – the nation's highest – is $1,372. That's 80 percent
more than the national average.
"The industry is
really making money on both ends," said Alex Winslow, executive
director of the consumer advocacy group Texas Watch. "They're reducing
coverage so they have less exposure and less risk, and they're charging
at least as much as they were before the reduction in coverage."
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