Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've been talking a lot, and you've probably been doing
the math at your place if you have homeowners insurance.
We've been talking a lot about what is becoming, for
many people, a real crisis of affordability in homeowners insurance.
And I'm so pleased that Amy Ruska can join us
for a bit this morning. Amy is the president of
the Independent Insurance Agents Association of Omaha.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Amy, Good morning, Good morning, How are you well.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's good to have you on here. Where to begin?
I can tell you I've got a fistfull of emails
and I haven't even saved all of them from people
right here in our area who have talked about how
they are rates of skyrocketed. In some cases they've been canceled,
They've had to scramble to find another company. What is
(00:45):
the general situation here in Omaha, Nebraska and environs from
your experience regarding homeowners insurance affordability and why it seems
that it has risen so much in the last couple
of years.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's kind of a two part questions, So let me
address the first part. So rates are going up, as
you know, as your listeners know, primarily because of storms
that are happening not just in Nebraska, but not just countrywide,
but worldwide. So when reinsurance costs go up, and reinsurance
(01:27):
is the insurance that insurance companies buy. So when there
are big storms again not just here, not just the
tornado last April, but everywhere, So the wildfires in California,
it's hurricanes, it's flooding, all of those things are adding
to the cost of insurance. Even for us here at
home in Nebraska, we're probably depending on which survey you
(01:50):
look at, we're always up there in the top rates
country wide, rivaling Florida, California, Texas, Louisiana, which is kind
of we But if you think about it, when storms
come through Nebraska, they're hitting Lincoln and they're hitting Omaha.
In a lot of states, that isn't necessarily the case.
Our two most populist cities are in the path of
(02:14):
most every storm that we're having. So we're seeing rate
increases go up with insurance companies more so in the
past couple of years, insurance companies pulling out of the
state altogether, some insurance companies pulling out of the country.
And this isn't happening just in Nebraska, but Obviously, we're
concerned about what is happening in Nebraska specifically. So what
(02:37):
we're seeing is insurance company is taking these big rate
increases to help kind of recoup some of these losses.
And so what you can do is there's a couple
of different things. So if your insurance company were to
drop you or raise your rates because of a claim
that you've had, there are other insurance companies out there.
(02:57):
They're called non admitted carriers. If you can't find a
regular insurance company, whether that be a state farm or
Travelers or nationwide or all state, if you can't find
coverage on your own. One of the benefits of working
with an independent agent is that we do have choices
with other companies, but sometimes even all of our companies
(03:18):
that we represent, they can't write your coverage either, depending
on a whole host of things such as claims being
right up there at the top of the list. So
these non admitted carriers can sometimes fill that gap when
you need coverage for a property that you can't insure
through an admitted carrier. These are insurance companies that you know,
(03:43):
typically are not companies that you've ever heard of before.
They don't do advertising but they can still fill that
need they're doctor.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Does that does that bring an extra risk with it?
In other words, like if I've got my company, my
agent who I trust, no, and I'll go, Okay, here
comes this outfit I've never heard of. Are they riskier
for a homeowner?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
There, I wouldn't say they're necessarily riskier. Sometimes they're still
rated by am Best and they're rated A, which is,
you know, one of the highest ratings. I mean there's
a there's a plus, there's a plus plus. But a
lot of times these non admitted carriers are still rated
financially stable and strong. The being with a non admitted
(04:27):
carrier just means you don't have protection from the state
Guarantee Fund, and in Nebraska I believe that amount is
three hundred thousand. Basically, what that means is if you're
insured with an admitted carriers, say, for instance, you're insured
with Travelers, and something happens and the company cannot pay
your claim because they are They've just become insolvent, almost
(04:49):
kind of overnight. We've seen that happen before with companies
over the years, not sane Travelers, but that's just an example.
So if that happened the state would come in and
protect your claim at this three hundred thousand dollars. If
the insurance company couldn't pay. With a non admitted carrier,
you don't have that protection.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, that's all.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It's a little risky. Sometimes the coverages aren't the same
as as you would get with an admitted carrier, but
it's still coverage. So even in you know, California, with
what's happening, some of those policy holders may be insured
with a non admitted carrier. They may be insured with
the state fair plan, and we don't have that in Nebraska.
That's kind of like the insurance of last resort, kind
(05:31):
of like where people buy hurricane and wind coverage in Florida.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
What's the deal here? I've heard that you can't get
you can't get tornado coverage here? Is that true that
you know? You hear these these these claims, and I
don't know that that's true. I mean, I'm assuming if
if my house gets damaged by a tornado, I'm covered,
You're I.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Think that that is something that people are just maybe
kind of making up, right, you know, reading it's just
kind of like wildfire, but.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
You can't get flood. You can't get flood insurance in
some areas, you know you can get wind.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Correct Well, there is there, but you got to check
your policy because they do have restrictions on wind damage,
and typically tornadoes are about wind.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
The restriction comes in the form of a higher deductible.
So I haven't come across a policy in Nebraska that
is excluding coverage for wind. So if people out there
are seeing that happening, it might be false information, you know,
maybe a misunderstanding between their agent or their insurance company
(06:37):
and the consumer. But I have never heard of a
policy not covering wind coverage here in Nebraska anyway, Florida
and coastal that that can be a problem.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Right, We've got a run here. But do you have
like a go to site for your association the consumers
can access to get more information.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yes, it's actually the Independent Insurance Agents of Nebraska. OMAHA
is a subsidiary. I'm actually the president of the Nebraska
State Association and we're part of the National Independent Insurance
Agents of America. So yes, we do have a state website.
We actually do have a local website as well, but
they can definitely go out to the Nebraska website and
(07:20):
look for more information. Have a conversation with your agent,
talk about higher deductibles and and what you can do
to lower your state, your the cost that you're paying outance.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, is that an easy side to give us? Or
should we just the Google Independent Insurance.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, it's I, I A N dot org or just
google Independent Insurance Agents of Nebraska. There's a lot of
resources out there, but your best sources to contact your
insurance agent.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Excellent, Amy, thank you for the time this morning on
the info You're welcome
We've been talking a lot, and you've probably been doing
the math at your place if you have homeowners insurance.
We've been talking a lot about what is becoming, for
many people, a real crisis of affordability in homeowners insurance.
And I'm so pleased that Amy Ruska can join us
for a bit this morning. Amy is the president of
the Independent Insurance Agents Association of Omaha.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Amy, Good morning, Good morning, How are you well.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's good to have you on here. Where to begin?
I can tell you I've got a fistfull of emails
and I haven't even saved all of them from people
right here in our area who have talked about how
they are rates of skyrocketed. In some cases they've been canceled,
They've had to scramble to find another company. What is
(00:45):
the general situation here in Omaha, Nebraska and environs from
your experience regarding homeowners insurance affordability and why it seems
that it has risen so much in the last couple
of years.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's kind of a two part questions, So let me
address the first part. So rates are going up, as
you know, as your listeners know, primarily because of storms
that are happening not just in Nebraska, but not just countrywide,
but worldwide. So when reinsurance costs go up, and reinsurance
(01:27):
is the insurance that insurance companies buy. So when there
are big storms again not just here, not just the
tornado last April, but everywhere, So the wildfires in California,
it's hurricanes, it's flooding, all of those things are adding
to the cost of insurance. Even for us here at
home in Nebraska, we're probably depending on which survey you
(01:50):
look at, we're always up there in the top rates
country wide, rivaling Florida, California, Texas, Louisiana, which is kind
of we But if you think about it, when storms
come through Nebraska, they're hitting Lincoln and they're hitting Omaha.
In a lot of states, that isn't necessarily the case.
Our two most populist cities are in the path of
(02:14):
most every storm that we're having. So we're seeing rate
increases go up with insurance companies more so in the
past couple of years, insurance companies pulling out of the
state altogether, some insurance companies pulling out of the country.
And this isn't happening just in Nebraska, but Obviously, we're
concerned about what is happening in Nebraska specifically. So what
(02:37):
we're seeing is insurance company is taking these big rate
increases to help kind of recoup some of these losses.
And so what you can do is there's a couple
of different things. So if your insurance company were to
drop you or raise your rates because of a claim
that you've had, there are other insurance companies out there.
(02:57):
They're called non admitted carriers. If you can't find a
regular insurance company, whether that be a state farm or
Travelers or nationwide or all state, if you can't find
coverage on your own. One of the benefits of working
with an independent agent is that we do have choices
with other companies, but sometimes even all of our companies
(03:18):
that we represent, they can't write your coverage either, depending
on a whole host of things such as claims being
right up there at the top of the list. So
these non admitted carriers can sometimes fill that gap when
you need coverage for a property that you can't insure
through an admitted carrier. These are insurance companies that you know,
(03:43):
typically are not companies that you've ever heard of before.
They don't do advertising but they can still fill that
need they're doctor.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Does that does that bring an extra risk with it?
In other words, like if I've got my company, my
agent who I trust, no, and I'll go, Okay, here
comes this outfit I've never heard of. Are they riskier
for a homeowner?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
There, I wouldn't say they're necessarily riskier. Sometimes they're still
rated by am Best and they're rated A, which is,
you know, one of the highest ratings. I mean there's
a there's a plus, there's a plus plus. But a
lot of times these non admitted carriers are still rated
financially stable and strong. The being with a non admitted
(04:27):
carrier just means you don't have protection from the state
Guarantee Fund, and in Nebraska I believe that amount is
three hundred thousand. Basically, what that means is if you're
insured with an admitted carriers, say, for instance, you're insured
with Travelers, and something happens and the company cannot pay
your claim because they are They've just become insolvent, almost
(04:49):
kind of overnight. We've seen that happen before with companies
over the years, not sane Travelers, but that's just an example.
So if that happened the state would come in and
protect your claim at this three hundred thousand dollars. If
the insurance company couldn't pay. With a non admitted carrier,
you don't have that protection.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, that's all.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It's a little risky. Sometimes the coverages aren't the same
as as you would get with an admitted carrier, but
it's still coverage. So even in you know, California, with
what's happening, some of those policy holders may be insured
with a non admitted carrier. They may be insured with
the state fair plan, and we don't have that in Nebraska.
That's kind of like the insurance of last resort, kind
(05:31):
of like where people buy hurricane and wind coverage in Florida.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
What's the deal here? I've heard that you can't get
you can't get tornado coverage here? Is that true that
you know? You hear these these these claims, and I
don't know that that's true. I mean, I'm assuming if
if my house gets damaged by a tornado, I'm covered,
You're I.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Think that that is something that people are just maybe
kind of making up, right, you know, reading it's just
kind of like wildfire, but.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
You can't get flood. You can't get flood insurance in
some areas, you know you can get wind.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Correct Well, there is there, but you got to check
your policy because they do have restrictions on wind damage,
and typically tornadoes are about wind.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
The restriction comes in the form of a higher deductible.
So I haven't come across a policy in Nebraska that
is excluding coverage for wind. So if people out there
are seeing that happening, it might be false information, you know,
maybe a misunderstanding between their agent or their insurance company
(06:37):
and the consumer. But I have never heard of a
policy not covering wind coverage here in Nebraska anyway, Florida
and coastal that that can be a problem.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Right, We've got a run here. But do you have
like a go to site for your association the consumers
can access to get more information.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yes, it's actually the Independent Insurance Agents of Nebraska. OMAHA
is a subsidiary. I'm actually the president of the Nebraska
State Association and we're part of the National Independent Insurance
Agents of America. So yes, we do have a state website.
We actually do have a local website as well, but
they can definitely go out to the Nebraska website and
(07:20):
look for more information. Have a conversation with your agent,
talk about higher deductibles and and what you can do
to lower your state, your the cost that you're paying outance.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, is that an easy side to give us? Or
should we just the Google Independent Insurance.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, it's I, I A N dot org or just
google Independent Insurance Agents of Nebraska. There's a lot of
resources out there, but your best sources to contact your
insurance agent.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Excellent, Amy, thank you for the time this morning on
the info You're welcome
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