We recap Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at Congress with political analyst Jake Novak, July 25th, 2024

Episode Transcript

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H T two. It's US Radioseven kgrh on FM, Houston's news,
weather, traffic, and talk atninety nine one h T two. Okay
sixty two Now. A survey ofone hundred insurance companies found that Houstonians are
paying an average of forty four hundreddollars a year to insure their homes against
wind, rain, wind rain,and hail. That's about twice the national

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average, and it's about to goup because of Beryl. Joining us now
to discuss is Albert Betts, Executivedirector of the Insurance Council of Texas.
Good morning, Albert, good morning. What kind of numbers are Houston homeowners
looking at now in terms of rates? We don't know yet. Barrel just
happened, and I think at thispoint it's way too early to project,

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you know, what will rates looklike going forward. Obviously, it's been
a rough year for Houston. Ifeel for y'all in between Derecho rolling through
a few weeks ago and now Beryl. Obviously, companies will be looking at
those losses projecting what happens in thefuture, but no single event means the
next day companies are raising rates.I think it's going to be a long

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term look at companies about what theydo in the Houston market and hopefully,
fingers crossed, we don't have anyother large severe events happen in the Houston
area. You know, when rainand hail, it got separated out homeowner's
insurance, I mean is typically forfire and flood. Flood had to be
separated out. I mean it's gettingto the point where you have to ensure

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your home for all these different specificevents and each one. Maybe it only
sounds like, well do you averageforty four hundred, Well yeah, but
that's on top of your fire coverage. I mean, it goes on and
on and on. It never stops. Well, actually, most policies,
homeowner policies, cover all of thoseperils. What you may be thinking about

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is along the Texas coast, or'sfourteen counties, there's an entity called the
Texas Windstorm Insurance Association that provides windcoverage in fourteen counties. That's set by
law that was actually created over fiftyyears ago as companies rolled back after a
large storm, rolled back and ridingwind coverage on the coast. So there

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are coastal counties where you do haveto buy a separate wind policy in some
areas, but generally across the state, companies provide the wind, the hell,
the fire coverage. Yeah, certainlythe greater Houston area however, and
that's where we're talking today. Yeah, there are portions of Houston that fit
within the TUIYA, the Texas Windstormand Insurance Association Plan, and those folks

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affected. Finally, I think it'sthe eastern portion of Harris County have to
buy a separate wind coverage. Whyis it that, you know, Houston
is so impacted by this more thanother spots in the hurricane zones I mean,
Gulf side, Atlantic side. Thereare a lot of places that have
a lot of those kinds of thatkind of damage and a lot of threats.
Why Houston in particular, this partof the region. Well, one

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reason maybe just the factor Texas facehas so many weather risk Think about those
coastal areas along the Atlantic coast,they may get a hurricane, But in
Houston, I mean you know this, y'all get pail you get tornadoes,
you get hurricanes, you get floods. It's just the geography of Texas.
We're in the line for almost everysingle major peril, and it's something that

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drives Texas insurance rates. It does, drives them through the roof, unfortunately
for the homeowners there. Albert Betts, Executive director, Insurance director of the
Insurance Council of Texas, analyzing therates and what's happening because of hurricanes and
more. Albert, thanks so muchfor the analysis. We appreciate it.
Thank youl. Have a good day.