BATON ROUGE, La. — Several lawmakers will hold a roundtable today about an overhaul of the national flood insurance program. Congressman Steve Scalise is hosting the meeting today. Scalise and other local leaders will talk about the impact rising insurance costs will have, and answer if there is anything homeowners can do.
This comes after the overhaul, known as "risk rating 2.0." It changes how the National Flood Insurance Program sets flood insurance rates. It's supposed to make the program more accurate, by evaluating the risks of each individual home. It replaces the old system, which is largely based on FEMA's flood maps. The rate increases will be phased in over several years, but some homeowners could eventually see their rates jump over 120%.
The move has added another load on to some Louisianians who are already struggling to find insurance in the state.
9 insurers have left the state since the busy storm season in 2020. This pushed thousands of homeowners to turn to the state's insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance.
In January 2021, Louisiana Citizen's had about 35,000 residential policies. After several major hurricanes and a dozen insurance companies leaving the state over the past two years, citizens now insures more than 102,000 Louisiana homes. That increase in demand has led to an increase in rates for citizens' customers.
So, if you have them, starting January 1st, 2023, your residential property insurance will go up 63% when your policy renews.
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