Chris Merrill: Could your insurance rates go up, even if you don’t live in one of the areas hit by Hurricane Ian?
Ron Snouffer is an insurance expert and public adjuster. He fights for the rights of property owners.
Insurers aren’t supposed to jack up premiums in random states to make up for large payouts to hurricane victims, but what happens if some insurance companies fail? Could it have a ripple effect on rates across the country?
Hurricane Ian is expected to undermine the already precarious market for property insurance in Florida, supercharging premiums and exposing gaps in coverage.
Why it matters: Ian's trail of wreckage will inevitably trigger a host of insurance claims by homeowners, saddle those without flood coverage with devastating losses and bludgeon the strained finances of the state's insurers.
Driving the news: Property losses from Ian are expected to amount to "one of the largest catastrophic loss events" in U.S. history, likely exceeding $30 billion, says Mark Friedlander, a Florida-based spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute (III).
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