Anybody besides me PO'd about Home and Auto Insurance ?

[clifish]

Insure hope he bought that truck well before the car loan rates over the last couple years! I can't imagine the payments on a $60K truck. I'm way to cheap to pay that much for a vehicle.

I am wondering if the 2012 was a typo and it was really a 2021??? That would make more sense in today's clown world.

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

What I wonder is, if health insurance will be hit similarly?

Dude health insurance is a damn joke. I pay almost $500 a month for a high deductible policy through my company for myself my wife and two kids. They wont cover anything until I hit my $6,000 deductible. They are supposed to cover preventative stuff like a mammogram for my wife who is at high risk but they don't...just got a $400 bill from that place. Her general practitioner doesn't even take insurance anymore because its too much of a hassle. $100 a month out of pocket but at least I have that setup to come out of my HSA. Most of the prescriptions we get come from Kroger pharmacy who doesn't even take our insurance. They run them through goodrx for a fraction of the price of it costs to submit it through insurance. It's a racket. Only reason to have it is in case of some terrible accident or hospital stay.

 

[912smoker]

Dude health insurance is a damn joke. I pay almost $500 a month for a high deductible policy through my company for myself my wife and two kids. They wont cover anything until I hit my $6,000 deductible. They are supposed to cover preventative stuff like a mammogram for my wife who is at high risk but they don't...just got a $400 bill from that place. Her general practitioner doesn't even take insurance anymore because its too much of a hassle. $100 a month out of pocket but at least I have that setup to come out of my HSA. Most of the prescriptions we get come from Kroger pharmacy who doesn't even take our insurance. They run them through goodrx for a fraction of the price of it costs to submit it through insurance. It's a racket. Only reason to have it is in case of some terrible accident or hospital stay.

I agree and don't know anyone who works and thinks health insurance is affordable.
I deal with many small businesses daily (5-30 employees) that think they want to offer it to their guys until they see the price. And unless they have 3 or 4 kids they make too much to qualify for the 0$ Obama Care. Humana is rumored to be pulling put of GA and other states next yr .
I don’t sell major medical but offer life and supplemental coverage and hear it multiple times a day.
I like selling life insurance....only 1 claim to file

As far as home owners and auto coverage, I get 2 newsletters a week and the most agents are also in shock with the rate increases.
Cal will only 2 or 3 ins companies operating in the state in the very near future and many there now are not actively seeking any new clients .
Talk about a monopoly!
And in NY, Allstate had an almost 30% increase in '23 and threatened to pull out if the state didn't approve a 23% increase in '24.
Who knows what the future holds but I'm afraid it ain't Purdy!

Keith

 

[Torch&Tone]

Cal will only 2 or 3 ins companies operating in the state in the very near future and many there now are not actively seeking any new clients .
Talk about a monopoly!
And in NY, Allstate had an almost 30% increase in '23 and threatened to pull out if the state didn't approve a 23% increase in '24.

Not going to mention the companies leaving Florida, Louisiana, or Oklahoma? Those three already have the highest home insurance rates in the country (average rates in Florida are already more than 50% higher than the next state) and Louisiana is expecting almost a 23% increase on top of theirs!

The record profits of the insurance companies are totally unrelated, though. Totally.

Also, making things worse, many of the areas with the highest insurance costs tend to be located in states with the highest poverty rates. Four of the five states with the highest home insurance rates in 2023 were among the ten poorest states in the country.

 

[Smokin Okie]

The record profits of the insurance companies are totally unrelated, though. Totally.

But you left out this part of the story ....................

After suffering some of the worst years in their history, insurers say they now see a path to profitability for home and auto policies

I'm gonna shop my home and auto. When costs to companies start evening out or even dropping, the only way to participate is to shop around. They won't voluntarily lower their premiums.

It doesn't take an economist to see, that if the economy gets locked down and then the Fed govt starts throwing large amounts of money into the economy, the result is going to be inflation. Inflation is too much money chasing too few goods.

( and btw, the reason inflation is global, is govt and central banks everywhere, did the same thing )

Those covid checks we got from the Fed govt, were not free money. I knew at the time that was gonna lead to inflation and higher interest rates. That's how we would pay for it and are paying for it.

And is any wonder that auto policies are rising, when auto prices during the pandemic went through the roof. I could've sold my three year old Honda for more than I paid for it. That impacts collision repairs.

I could've sold my Skeeter bass boat for more than I paid for it in 2005.

These were not ordinary times and they're not gonna go away quickly

However, trying to blame climate change for the increase in housing costs brought on by inflation, is a joke. That's just politicians trying to pass the buck for their bad decisions.

This is like the boa constrictor that's swallowed the pig whole, and we're just gonna have to wait for the pig to work its way through the system.

 

[912smoker]

Not going to mention the companies leaving Florida, Louisiana, or Oklahoma? Those three already have the highest home insurance rates in the country (average rates in Florida are already more than 50% higher than the next state) and Louisiana is expecting almost a 23% increase on top of theirs!

The record profits of the insurance companies are totally unrelated, though. Totally.

Also, making things worse, many of the areas with the highest insurance costs tend to be located in states with the highest poverty rates. Four of the five states with the highest home insurance rates in 2023 were among the ten poorest states in the country.

I have no knowledge of those states and limited knowledge in general.
But did see some this for FL homeowners
A very small decrease but worth checking on

3 Florida property insurance companies announce reduction in rates, desire to give homeowners some relief

Three Florida property insurance companies have either announced a reduction in their rates or the desire to pass some relief on to homeowners.

www.news4jax.com

Keith

 

[Torch&Tone]

But you left out this part of the story ....................

The statement "storms bringing hail and tornadoes have caused more losses in 2023 than hurricanes have" doesn't mean much in a year when only one hurricane made landfall. Their overallnat cat costs in 2023 were, in fact, unusually low:

Hard to shed a tear of sympathy for an industry that publishes this: "Both personal auto and homeowners' premiums grew by double digits in H1 2023, driving strong P&C industry growth of 8.6%... We forecast industry return on equity (ROE) at 9.5% in 2024 and 10.0% in 2025, supported by premium growth of 7.0% and 4.5% respectively in these years." (source: Swiss Re Institute)

 

[Smokin Okie]

The statement "storms bringing hail and tornadoes have caused more losses in 2023 than hurricanes have" doesn't mean much in a year when only one hurricane made landfall. Their overallnat cat costs in 2023 were, in fact, unusually low:

View attachment 698800

Hard to shed a tear of sympathy for an industry that publishes this: "Both personal auto and homeowners' premiums grew by double digits in H1 2023, driving strong P&C industry growth of 8.6%... We forecast industry return on equity (ROE) at 9.5% in 2024 and 10.0% in 2025, supported by premium growth of 7.0% and 4.5% respectively in these years." (source: Swiss Re Institute)

That won't fly.

There's more damage claims because there's more to be damaged. Tornadoes and hail storms that once went through empty fields , now go through housing additions.

Shoreline development on the coasts increases every year.

 

[chef k-dude]

Great discussion overall, y'all.

Dude health insurance is a damn joke. I pay almost $500 a month for a high deductible policy through my company for myself my wife and two kids. They wont cover anything until I hit my $6,000 deductible. They are supposed to cover preventative stuff like a mammogram for my wife who is at high risk but they don't...just got a $400 bill from that place. Her general practitioner doesn't even take insurance anymore because its too much of a hassle. $100 a month out of pocket but at least I have that setup to come out of my HSA. Most of the prescriptions we get come from Kroger pharmacy who doesn't even take our insurance. They run them through goodrx for a fraction of the price of it costs to submit it through insurance. It's a racket. Only reason to have it is in case of some terrible accident or hospital stay.

I dont disagree with that. They ARE for profit businesses. Some people lose sight of that.

I've only had health insurance for about 3-4 years of the last 23 years. I tried to operate a small business and wasn't really very good at it! Health insurance was not affordable. Then when the ACA/ObamaCare came (I was against it legislatively) it was suddenly affordable...for a couple of years, then all of the sudden they wanted over $3K a month in premiums and only one insurer in my county in Virginia. THAT was as catastrophic as having to make payments to the hospital after an emergency. We've never qualified for subsidy...always just above that line.

I started looking at paying out of pocket for a needed hernia repair a couple years ago and the medical system is so screwed up you cant get a clear straight answer on costs. I was looking at maybe 10-15K to get it patched...I think, they might have shocked me even worse after the fact since they dont like to hold to quotes. And THAT was after a self pay 50% discount which is how we had been going to the doctor...you go to the doctor, then pay them for their services...weird concept, eh? They dont take chickens and furniture anymore!

I looked in to health insurance through the exchange last year and was surprised to see prices fairly reasonable. I chose a plan that is about $685 a month with a $6,500 deductible. That's still a lot of money but my employer, who doesn't pay employee's health insurance fully, DOES pay a $300 a month stipend toward your insurance AND takes the rest out of my paycheck and pays the insurance company directly for me. They take it out pre-tax...apparently its legit, so my actual out of pocket for premiums is around $200 a month.

My surgery should max out the deductible at that approximately $6,500, about half what I was looking at as a self pay. Wellness stuff is covered. I dont pay anything for checkups and blood-work (except my premium of course). I have a colonoscopy scheduled later after the surgery, that except any subsequent procedures relating to that, is covered. I've never had one because its so expensive as a self pay. If there are any additional procedures as a result of that, as long as I have anything done by the end of 2024 or whenever my policy date is early 2025, my out of pocket will have already been reached from the surgery. Then it all resets next policy term of course.

So for me, this year, it's a net plus. Plus if I have a coronary or a major injury, that max, again is $6,500 rather than the hundreds of thousands for bypass/stents, etc.. Which is the only reason I really wanted insurance...catastrophic stuff. I've seen the bills from relatives who had heart attacks, you think insurance is high?! With the scenario I laid out above, my premiums cost me about $2,400 a year. Not too shabby, really.