The U.S. Treasury Federal Insurance Office (FIO) report on homeowners insurance pricing and its correlation to climate risks, published January 14, does not provide all the available data needed for further analysis, according to Douglas Heller, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America.
FIO compiled the report in a partnership with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) begun in March 2024. NAIC shared a subset of
"The FIO report was certainly better than anything the NAIC has done with the data collection, as the NAIC has provided nothing to the public regarding the data," Heller stated in an email. "I appreciate and applaud FIO for the work they've done to help bring to light, in particular, the evidence that the insurance crisis is not just a coastal issue or a California issue but a countrywide issue."
The FIO highlighted these findings from the
- Homeowners insurance costs are rising fast throughout the U.S.
- Homeowners in places hit by substantial weather events are paying far more.
- Policy non-renewals are higher in places with higher projected climate peril risks.
- Climate change is making insurers' operations more costly.
NAIC collected data from more than 330 private homeowners insurance companies throughout the U.S., according to the report. The FIO's report provides an overview of costs, availability and differences in costs and availability by region. Its estimates of costs of climate-related disasters are based on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Risk Index (NRI). This index includes cold waves, hail, heatwaves, hurricanes, lightning, strong wind, tornadoes, wildfires and winter storms – but not flood, because insurers typically exclude flood coverage.
The report also contains analyses of insurers' losses, insurance costs, and factors affecting policies and premiums, with regional differences organized by ZIP Codes. The report does not contain a full record of all the data, which prevents outside analysts from studying it, evaluating it or making conclusions.
"I continue to be frustrated by the unwillingness of FIO and, much more so, the NAIC to make all the data public," Heller stated. "Neither FIO nor the NAIC have the bandwidth or breadth of perspective to do all the useful analyses that even this limited data call makes possible. There is absolutely no justification for protecting the insurance industry from the scrutiny of its underwriting and pricing that would happen if the data were available. There is no company trade secret in ZIP code aggregated data."
