MS Coast posts some of nation’s highest rates for insurance nonrenewals, analysis shows
Mississippi Coast counties have some of the highest rates in the nation of insurance nonrenewals, according to an interactive map the New York Times published Wednesday.
Overall, Mississippi ranked sixth for the number of nonrenewals by state, with one out of 67 policies not renewed in 2023. Nonrenewal rates were higher in the three coastal counties. Nonrenewals represent either the insurance company or policyholder deciding against renewing an expired policy, often because of steep rate increases.
The New York Times analysis of nonrenewals covered 23 insurance companies that submitted data requested by the U.S. Senate Budget Committee for 2018-2023. The committee, which asked 41 companies for the data, started investigating insurance nonrenewals in November 2023 as part of its examination of the financial risks climate change creates for insurance, mortgage and property markets in states exposed to hurricanes and wildfires.
The committee concluded that counties with the greatest exposure to climate-related events also saw the highest insurance nonrenewal rates.
“Climate change is not just about polar bears and melting icebergs anymore,” Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, said in a news release “It’s also about climate-flation bleeding family budgets — with higher costs for insurance, groceries, and health care—and cascading economy-wide shocks.
“What our new data reveal is that the failure to deal with climate change is also affecting whether families can even get homeowners insurance, which threatens their ability to get a mortgage, which spells trouble for property values in climate-exposed communities across the country. “
Mississippi Coast counties top insurance nonrenewals
The insurance companies responding to the committee’s data call represent 65% of the homeowner insurance market nationwide, the committee said. They’re also among the largest insurers in California, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas, states on the front lines of climate change, the committee’s news release says.
In Mississippi, the New York Times analysis found, nonrenewal rates are highest on the Coast, where exposure to hurricanes is highest.
Harrison and Jackson counties had some of the nation’s highest percentages of insurance nonrenewals for 2023, based on the 23 companies that submitted data. The New York Times data analysis showed that the state’s highest nonrenewal rates were on the Coast:
- In Jackson County, 1 in 18 policies was not renewed in 2023, a 1,646.6% increase over 2018.
- In Harrison County, 1 in 20 policies was nonrenewed, a 1,373.2% increase over 2018.
- In Hancock County, 1 in 44 policies was nonrenewed, a 1,286.1% increase over 2018.
The committee said the data clearly shows the nation needs to expedite its transition to clean energy. Insurance nonrenewal rates, coupled with skyrocketing premiums, could lead to financial collapse in affected communities, the committee warns.
“Climate change is no longer just an environmental problem,” the committee’s report concluded. “It is a looming economic threat.”
Finding homeowner coverage
The committee’s ranking Republican member, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said in a written statement that members are focusing on the wrong economic issue.
An analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, he said, shows “the negative economic effects of climate change are dwarfed by those posed by our ballooning national debt.”
Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said he’s “very aware” of insurance nonrenewals in Mississippi.
“We have been able to find coverage for those people who were nonrenewed,” Chaney said. “It may not be at the price they wanted, but we got coverage.”
The insurer of last resort, the state wind pool, insures homeowners in the six lower South Mississippi counties who are unable to find coverage in the private market. The wind pool had 13,612 residential policies in force in April 2024, its website shows.
