{"id":45536,"date":"2025-11-20T01:32:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T01:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/45536\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T01:32:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T01:32:06","slug":"home-insurance-rates-soar-as-state-lawmakers-look-to-bring-down-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/45536\/","title":{"rendered":"Home insurance rates soar as state lawmakers look to bring down costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) \u2014 Albany County resident Christine Duffy said her home insurance premium keeps rising even though the coverage on her policy hasn\u2019t changed \u2014 a trend seen not just in New York but across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now I\u2019m only seeing my rate increase, but not my coverage,\u201d Duffy said. \u201cEvery year when the premium goes up, I call them and express my concern and I ask, where is the inflation adjustment? And they don\u2019t answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her experience is similar to what lawmakers say they\u2019re hearing from homeowners \u2014 higher bills that come with reduced or unchanged coverage and little explanation from insurance companies.<\/p>\n

At a joint Senate committee hearing Tuesday<\/a>, lawmakers heard testimony as they examined the driving forces behind the hike and the challenges it creates for homeowners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis crisis is making it more difficult to afford to buy a home. It\u2019s making it more difficult to afford to rent a home. In excess of 20 percent of rent is attributable to homeowners insurance,\u201d said state Sen. James Skoufis, D-Cornwall, who also chairs the Senate Standing Committee on Investigations and Government Operations.<\/p>\n

Consumer Reports was among the groups testifying at the hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn New York in particular, homeowners have dealt with average increases of over $1,000 in their premium since 2020,\u201d said Alexandra Grose, senior counsel for sustainability at Consumer Reports. \u201cInsurance companies generally aren\u2019t transparent about how they set their pricing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grose attributed the costs to several factors, including rising construction expenses and the growing impact of climate-driven disasters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s multiple factors,\u201d she said. \u201cBut largely it\u2019s escalating climate impacts from climate change. We\u2019ve got undeniably more disasters per year than we\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skoufis said lawmakers are now evaluating policy responses for the upcoming legislative session.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the responses that we can move forward with when we get to session in January include making sure regulators have all the tools and the mandates they need to ensure insurance companies are not ripping off their policyholders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To increase transparency, Consumer Reports urged lawmakers to adopt a \u201cHomeowners Insurance Bill of Rights,\u201d which outlines protections such as plain-language explanations of coverage, advance notice before cancellations or major rate hikes, clear disclosure of the risk factors that determine premiums, and six other conditions aimed at increasing transparency and protections.<\/p>\n

Grose said more than 40,000 consumers have signed Consumer Reports\u2019 petition<\/a> supporting the proposal.<\/p>\n

Following the hearing, Skoufis said lawmakers are now drafting a final report that will include recommendations for addressing rising premiums and unstable coverage across the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) \u2014 Albany County resident Christine Duffy said her home insurance premium keeps rising even though…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-45536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}