A firefighter works to protect homes surrounding residences engulfed in flames by the CZU Lightning Complex fire in Boulder Creek, California, on Aug. 22, 2020. (Dylan Bouscher/Bay Area News Group/TNS)TNS
These days, buying home insurance feels like playing roulette in a casino, where the spinning wheel is nature itself—unpredictable, relentless, and increasingly unforgiving.
Like gamblers at the table, homeowners place their bets—buying policies and coverage options—to ensure they aren’t left financially ruined because of nature’s increasingly volatile spin. But each spin is getting wilder and, apparently, more expensive. Much like the casino’s house, home insurance companies set the odds and manage payouts to keep the balance sheet comfortably in the black. But those days are fading if you read the news.
In 2023, the property and casualty (P&C) sector within insurance companies paid out $1.10 in claims for every dollar collected in premiums, according to the Sept. 2024 U.S. Treasury Department report on the insurance industry, which will follow up with a more detailed report on the effects of climate risk on the sector before the end of the year.
That’s not a one-off. Since 2014, the industry has seen five years where claims outstripped premiums, with 2017, 2022, and 2023 each leaving insurers roughly $20 billion in the red on home insurance policies, noted the Treasury report. Hurricanes Helene and Milton could deepen the wounds, but early reports suggest that few homeowners were adequately covered against the worst damage: flooding.
Regardless, the insurance industry’s chorus of “underwriting losses” over these past five years doesn’t reflect the real story. According to the Treasury report, profits for the P&C sector soared to a record-breaking $85.2 billion in 2023, doubling from the previous year.
How is that possible?
While payouts for disaster claims may have ballooned, the P&C sector uses our premiums to invest in stocks, bonds, and other lucrative securities. More policies mean more capital to grow those profits.
With $2.8 trillion in assets in just the P&C sector, insurance companies aren’t exactly looking down the back of the couch for loose change. This surplus, the highest in history, could cover all outstanding liabilities, including every home insurance policy in the nation, and still have a 30% surplus. For insurers, nature’s havoc is more an inconvenient bump in the road than a financial apocalypse.
Meanwhile, homeowners are feeling the squeeze. Since 2019, home insurance premiums have surged 38%, with states like Arizona, Nebraska, Illinois, and Utah seeing jumps of up to 62%, according to Lending Tree data. Some policyholders report double or even triple their previous rates in catastrophe-prone areas like California, Louisiana, and Florida. The official explanation points to rising rebuilding costs and the unyielding cycle of extreme weather—hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and drought.
While insurers lament what they call the “crisis” of underwriting losses, the P&C sector continues to rake in record profits and grow their financial surplus. Attempts to tackle the affordability issue at the federal level have stalled, thanks in no small part to the insurance lobby’s multimillion-dollar efforts to keep this lucrative business model intact. Industry analysts and insiders have said it would further destabilize the home insurance market.
So, as the roulette wheel keeps spinning, it’s worth asking: who’s really in control of the game? And what ties do these insurance companies, among the largest providers of home insurance in the country, have with the political landscape that seems to keep the odds in their favor and us paying a lot more?
All company contributions have been since 1990 and lobbying since 1998, per Open Secrets, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that publishes campaign finance and lobbying data.
USAA
CEO: Wayne Peacock since 2020
Company political contributions: $20.8 million
Lobbying: $125.4 million
MetLife
CEO: Michel Khalaf (MetLife) since 2019, Raul Vargas (Farmers Insurance) since 2023
Company political contributions: $20 million
Lobbying: $98.5 million
Allstate
CEO: Tom Wilson since 2007
Company political contributions: $7.2 million
Lobbying: $69.8 million
Travelers
CEO: Alan Schnitzer since 2015
Company political contributions: $9 million
Lobbying: $67 million
Nationwide
CEO: Kirt Walker since 2019
Company political contributions: $10.1 million
Lobbying: $67 million
State Farm
CEO: Michael L. Tipsord since 2015
Company political contributions: $15.2 million
Lobbying: $64.8 million
Liberty Mutual
CEO: Timothy M. Sweeney since 2023
Company political contributions: $14 million
Lobbying: $57.4 million
Chubb
CEO: Evan Greenberg since 2004
Company political contributions: $4.7 million
Lobbying: $57.2 million
The Hartford
CEO: Christopher Swift since 2014
Company political contributions: $7.47
Lobbying: $51 million
American Family Insurance
CEO: Bill Westrate since 2022
Company contributions: $1.8 million
Lobbying: $6.4 million
Cincinnati Insurance
CEO: Steven J. Johnston since 2011
Company political contributions: $1.67
Lobbying: $3 million
Erie Insurance
CEO: Timothy G. NeCastro since 2017
Company political contributions: $2.19 million
Lobbying: $0
Progressive
CEO: Tricia Griffith since 2016
Company political contributions: $864,000
Lobbying: $0
Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.