Insurance

The Office of Management and Budget Should Authorize Federal Insurance Office Data Collection on Homeowners Insurance and Climate Risk

Consumer Groups Say Modest Data Collection Effort Is Important First Step to Addressing the Home Insurance Crisis Impacting Millions of Americans

 |  Press Release

Washington, D.C.— At a time of rising insurance costs due to climate change and spiking reinsurance costs, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) urged the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve a Federal Insurance Office (FIO) plan to collect critical homeowners insurance data from the nation’s largest insurance companies. The data will shed new light on the growing insurance coverage gap in many communities that are particularly vulnerable to climate-driven catastrophes. The proposed data call has been substantially reduced in response to pressure from the insurance industry, and CFA said that future data calls should gather more information.

In comments to the OMB supporting the approval of the data call, CFA wrote:

“At the intersection of climate change and homeowners insurance, there are millions of American families worried that they cannot afford to protect their most significant asset, their home, or that the options to buy coverage and the quality of that coverage are shrinking. The fact that spiking insurance prices, diminishing availability, and coverage gaps in the homeowners insurance market could cause significant and systemic problems cannot be ignored….

FIO’s proposed data call will provide the granular data necessary to better assess the systemic risks and related concerns that derive from climate change’s impact on homeowners insurance markets. The stakes involved in this issue are huge. It is essential that we have good data available as we determine what is to be done.”

FIO’s updated data call proposal will require the nation’s 14 largest home insurers to provide data about their premiums, claims, and overall exposure to potential losses, covering the past six years of underwriting data. This data will be collected at the ZIP code level so policymakers and regulators can better understand how climate change is affecting insurance costs community by community.  It will also help to assess whether coverage gaps are more acute in communities of color and other historically underserved communities.

A copy of CFA’s letter to OMB is available here.