Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Could they have you back?
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I don't think you got some rain down?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Oh man, are you in Uh? You back in Nebraska?
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Now, yeah, I'm in Norfolk. We've got some good rain.
But I think you got more.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Yeah, you got you got two inches up there. You're
not going to need to turn on the machines for that. Uh,
you know, rapids kayaking ride down the Elkhorn River. You
guys have unveiled up there through downtown. I got to
get up there and do that. That's that looks like
a lot of fun, a.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Lot of water overnight, a lot of a lot of
heartburn by homeowners over the cost of right spiraling cost
of homeowners insurance. And I saw a note from Mike
Flood's office the other day. You're trying to do something
about this. These are private companies, they're producer there. They
(00:50):
they're bound to make a profit one way or the other.
And they say, look in Nebraska, you got all these
storms and tornadoes and floods and all of that, and
so the prices go up. What can be done in
your view of.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Mike, Well, first of all, I think we need to
say that you know, according to a recent analysis, home
insurance premiums in Nebraska. Just take a three hundred thousand
dollars host house. We are paying more than three thousand
dollars more on home insurance than the national average. So
every state has hail, every state has bad weather, but
(01:22):
in Nebraska we have a situation where sixty percent increase
is what most homeowners saw. And here's what I'd say.
There's a lot of folks that you know, you get
a lot of letters from the insurance companies. Sometimes it's
a disclaimer, sometimes it's their privacy practices. Sometimes it's maybe
voting a mutual insurance company. You know, leadership, you got
(01:44):
to open those up this year because in there you'll
see that home premiums for insurance are skyrocketing, and primarily
it's hail. Primarily it's replacing a lot of roofs. One
thing we have to do is Nebraska, because we have
to lower our risk. We need to figure out a
way to get more people to put impact resistant roofing
(02:08):
on their homes and you'll see a nice drop in
your premium. But the reality is there's something happening not
just in Nebraska, but in every state. And so what
I'm going to do in October is we're going to
sit down with a lot of the insurance companies. We're
going to talk to them about what they're seeing. There's
an issue with reinsurance. So a lot of these property
and casualty companies, they they on top of their business,
(02:31):
have a reinsurer, and a lot of those are internationally based,
foreign base and there's some talk about redomesticating those, but
it is a problem. And if you thought property taxes
were bad and right now that's a big topic, check
your yeah, check your statement with your bank. Because my
house insurance went up sixty percent. I was paying just
(02:54):
under five hundred dollars a month when I got my
house refinanced a few years ago. Now in paying close
to nine hundred dollars a month in home property casually inert.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, and you're a very wealthy man, so oh yeah, okay,
I did this. This happened to me. They were going
to jack me up thirty five percent just this year.
So I shopped it around and that helps. Some folks
don't do that, but it's a hassle. And you got
to work through your ESCRO account from your mortgage lender
(03:27):
because you've prepaid insurance and you've got to be on
top of this.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
But that's the first thing.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
The other thing, of course, Mike Flood, is that we're
hearing nationally a lot of insurance companies are simply pulling
out of states California, Florida. There are some states where
they just either won't write new insurance or they're literally
pulling out of there. How close are we to states
starting to take over homeowners insurance?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Like, is what's happening in Florida.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Well, there's a difference California and Florida and their state statutes.
They have a caposentially on what the insurance company can charge,
so the state of California dictates what homeowners will pay.
And of course, if you're state farm and you say
we're not going to play that game, we're losing money,
they'll pull out. Nebraska doesn't have that because you know,
(04:15):
we recognize there's a free market opportunity for businesses like
insurance companies, and it's a good thing. At the end
of the day, though, price caps will not work because
if you if you start putting a price cap on there,
all these insurance companies will bow out, and then you've
got a situation like California or even Florida. You know,
for us, I think we you know, to tackle this issue,
(04:36):
we need to lower the risk to our premiums, and
that means lower the risk to insurance companies that come in.
We need more impact resistant roofs to Nebraska. Hail is
what's killing us. And then of course the storms you
guys have had Omahon Lincoln this year, that's not even
factored into premiums. That'll probably come at us next year.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Would you brist flood if you were in the UNCAF
property tax relief of you were in the un A
camera right now, that's just speculation on my part. But
would you favor a tax credit, a big dollar for
dollar tax credit for Nebraskans if they put an impact
resistant roof on their house?
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Well, I think that's we're talking about. It's thirty percent
more to put one of those roofs in your house,
and insurance companies will reward you over the long term.
The the other thing is if you have a security
system in your home, you can oftentimes get a discount,
and a lot of people don't know that. So so
you've got an ADT system, you should probably call and
check on that.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well. Another thing is some of these companies, Like I'm
paying for something on mine where for I can't remember
the terminology exactly, but other structures, well, I don't have
any other structures. Well, I guess what you're going to
pay for that? And you should be shopping your insurance. Well,
I know, so far we mostly are admiring the problem, Mike,
(05:53):
and I appreciate your efforts here. But in addition to
security system and impact resistance roofing, what else do you
think can happen? You're going to put together a working group, right,
which would include insurance companies.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
That's right. And the other thing is, you know you
also talk about deductibles and a lot of insurance companies
are changing their policies on deductibles. The other thing you
need to know, and many of your homeowners and Omahon
Lincoln probably know this by now, is that a lot
of companies have dropped what they call cosmetic coverage. So, yeah,
your gutters are still there, but they're all down it
up from the hail. Well, that's no longer something that
(06:29):
every insurance company is going to replace. So you know,
first of all, we got to educate ourselves. There are
things you can do with your insurance companies to modify
your coverage that can bring down that cost. My hope
in October is that we can talk to insurance companies
that base their rates off of actual you know, science,
(06:50):
and we can say what can we as a state do.
Impact resistant roofs would go a very long way. The
problem is that can't just be you. It has to
be sixty percent of it to Nebraska when we redo
our roof, we got to put that in well, whenever.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
That time, Cory, And that's why.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You know, if you get a dollar for dollar tax credit,
you know you're paying state income tax, or maybe it's
a federal thing. Maybe you can operate on the federal
level and get a dollar for dollar tax credit. If
you put a roof on your house, you can afford
to do that. If you're getting repaid on the back end.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Through your tax that would help. That would help. Mike,
thanks always go to have you on. Hey appreciate it, gentlemen,
Nebraska first District Congressman Mike Flutt
Hey, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Could they have you back?
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I don't think you got some rain down?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Oh man, are you in Uh? You back in Nebraska?
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Now, yeah, I'm in Norfolk. We've got some good rain.
But I think you got more.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Yeah, you got you got two inches up there. You're
not going to need to turn on the machines for that. Uh,
you know, rapids kayaking ride down the Elkhorn River. You
guys have unveiled up there through downtown. I got to
get up there and do that. That's that looks like
a lot of fun, a.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Lot of water overnight, a lot of a lot of
heartburn by homeowners over the cost of right spiraling cost
of homeowners insurance. And I saw a note from Mike
Flood's office the other day. You're trying to do something
about this. These are private companies, they're producer there. They
(00:50):
they're bound to make a profit one way or the other.
And they say, look in Nebraska, you got all these
storms and tornadoes and floods and all of that, and
so the prices go up. What can be done in
your view of.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Mike, Well, first of all, I think we need to
say that you know, according to a recent analysis, home
insurance premiums in Nebraska. Just take a three hundred thousand
dollars host house. We are paying more than three thousand
dollars more on home insurance than the national average. So
every state has hail, every state has bad weather, but
(01:22):
in Nebraska we have a situation where sixty percent increase
is what most homeowners saw. And here's what I'd say.
There's a lot of folks that you know, you get
a lot of letters from the insurance companies. Sometimes it's
a disclaimer, sometimes it's their privacy practices. Sometimes it's maybe
voting a mutual insurance company. You know, leadership, you got
(01:44):
to open those up this year because in there you'll
see that home premiums for insurance are skyrocketing, and primarily
it's hail. Primarily it's replacing a lot of roofs. One
thing we have to do is Nebraska, because we have
to lower our risk. We need to figure out a
way to get more people to put impact resistant roofing
(02:08):
on their homes and you'll see a nice drop in
your premium. But the reality is there's something happening not
just in Nebraska, but in every state. And so what
I'm going to do in October is we're going to
sit down with a lot of the insurance companies. We're
going to talk to them about what they're seeing. There's
an issue with reinsurance. So a lot of these property
and casualty companies, they they on top of their business,
(02:31):
have a reinsurer, and a lot of those are internationally based,
foreign base and there's some talk about redomesticating those, but
it is a problem. And if you thought property taxes
were bad and right now that's a big topic, check
your yeah, check your statement with your bank. Because my
house insurance went up sixty percent. I was paying just
(02:54):
under five hundred dollars a month when I got my
house refinanced a few years ago. Now in paying close
to nine hundred dollars a month in home property casually inert.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, and you're a very wealthy man, so oh yeah, okay,
I did this. This happened to me. They were going
to jack me up thirty five percent just this year.
So I shopped it around and that helps. Some folks
don't do that, but it's a hassle. And you got
to work through your ESCRO account from your mortgage lender
(03:27):
because you've prepaid insurance and you've got to be on
top of this.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
But that's the first thing.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
The other thing, of course, Mike Flood, is that we're
hearing nationally a lot of insurance companies are simply pulling
out of states California, Florida. There are some states where
they just either won't write new insurance or they're literally
pulling out of there. How close are we to states
starting to take over homeowners insurance?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Like, is what's happening in Florida.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Well, there's a difference California and Florida and their state statutes.
They have a caposentially on what the insurance company can charge,
so the state of California dictates what homeowners will pay.
And of course, if you're state farm and you say
we're not going to play that game, we're losing money,
they'll pull out. Nebraska doesn't have that because you know,
(04:15):
we recognize there's a free market opportunity for businesses like
insurance companies, and it's a good thing. At the end
of the day, though, price caps will not work because
if you if you start putting a price cap on there,
all these insurance companies will bow out, and then you've
got a situation like California or even Florida. You know,
for us, I think we you know, to tackle this issue,
(04:36):
we need to lower the risk to our premiums, and
that means lower the risk to insurance companies that come in.
We need more impact resistant roofs to Nebraska. Hail is
what's killing us. And then of course the storms you
guys have had Omahon Lincoln this year, that's not even
factored into premiums. That'll probably come at us next year.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Would you brist flood if you were in the UNCAF
property tax relief of you were in the un A
camera right now, that's just speculation on my part. But
would you favor a tax credit, a big dollar for
dollar tax credit for Nebraskans if they put an impact
resistant roof on their house?
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Well, I think that's we're talking about. It's thirty percent
more to put one of those roofs in your house,
and insurance companies will reward you over the long term.
The the other thing is if you have a security
system in your home, you can oftentimes get a discount,
and a lot of people don't know that. So so
you've got an ADT system, you should probably call and
check on that.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well. Another thing is some of these companies, Like I'm
paying for something on mine where for I can't remember
the terminology exactly, but other structures, well, I don't have
any other structures. Well, I guess what you're going to
pay for that? And you should be shopping your insurance. Well,
I know, so far we mostly are admiring the problem, Mike,
(05:53):
and I appreciate your efforts here. But in addition to
security system and impact resistance roofing, what else do you
think can happen? You're going to put together a working group, right,
which would include insurance companies.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
That's right. And the other thing is, you know you
also talk about deductibles and a lot of insurance companies
are changing their policies on deductibles. The other thing you
need to know, and many of your homeowners and Omahon
Lincoln probably know this by now, is that a lot
of companies have dropped what they call cosmetic coverage. So, yeah,
your gutters are still there, but they're all down it
up from the hail. Well, that's no longer something that
(06:29):
every insurance company is going to replace. So you know,
first of all, we got to educate ourselves. There are
things you can do with your insurance companies to modify
your coverage that can bring down that cost. My hope
in October is that we can talk to insurance companies
that base their rates off of actual you know, science,
(06:50):
and we can say what can we as a state do.
Impact resistant roofs would go a very long way. The
problem is that can't just be you. It has to
be sixty percent of it to Nebraska when we redo
our roof, we got to put that in well, whenever.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
That time, Cory, And that's why.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You know, if you get a dollar for dollar tax credit,
you know you're paying state income tax, or maybe it's
a federal thing. Maybe you can operate on the federal
level and get a dollar for dollar tax credit. If
you put a roof on your house, you can afford
to do that. If you're getting repaid on the back end.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Through your tax that would help. That would help. Mike,
thanks always go to have you on. Hey appreciate it, gentlemen,
Nebraska first District Congressman Mike Flutt
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