Wendy Northcross, president of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, says she hunted for several months for new insurance for her modest, three-bedroom house when her long-time insurer withdrew from the Cape Cod market last year. "I was literally starting to panic, and I'm not prone to panic," she says. Ms. Northcross says she finally ended up in the state's FAIR plan, which boosted her premium to $1,200 a year from $800 under her previous policy.
Other states barely touched by last summer's hurricanes also are feeling the impact. In New York, Allstate, the largest insurer in the state, recently announced it would drop 28,000 policyholders in eight counties, including New York City, citing "overexposure" to potential weather related losses there. But other insurers, including State Farm and Liberty Mutual Group, have said they would continue writing business in the state.
In Rhode Island, insurers are beginning to alert homeowners in coastal areas that their policies won't be renewed, according to the state's association of independent insurance agents. Premiums on continuing policies in the state have risen from 10 percent to 15 percent in the past year, and more insurers are imposing higher deductibles for windstorm damage, the association says. And in Maine, regulators say they are bracing for what they expect will be efforts by insurers to boost premiums because of increased reinsurance costs.
