Dare to challenge deductible for wind damage

By MIKE BAKER

RALEIGH, N.C.

Homeowners on the North Carolina coast face drastically higher insurance premiums under an agreement announced Thursday as the state tries to prepare for the cost of a major hurricane.

Meanwhile, Dare County commissioners agreed tonight  to move ahead with a legal challenge of higher deductibles for wind insurance claims. The new deductible for wind damage, approved by the state insurance commissioner last month, is 2 percent of the value of a home for each event, whether it's a thunderstorm or a hurricane. But it applies only to coastal counties under a state insurance pool called the Beach Plan.

Insurance Commissioner Jim Long said the agreement with insurance companies allows an average statewide increase of about 4 percent. But premiums will soar on the coastline, with some areas facing increases of nearly 30 percent.

A state-sanctioned insurance program, the Beach Plan, covers some $72 billion worth of property along the coast but may not have the resources to cover losses should a major hurricane strike.

State officials have allowed coastal insurance increases in the past with hopes that more companies may begin offering policies there. Long said a few may do so after the new rate increase, but he's not counting on it.

"It hasn't happened all the other times," Long said in an interview.

Instead, Long said the rate hikes will improve the financial status of Beach Plan, which was first created in 1969 to provide wind damage insurance to homeowners on North Carolina's barrier islands who couldn't obtain coverage on the open market. The program has expanded over the years to more counties and situations and now includes 170,000 coastal properties. Lawmakers want it to return to its intended purpose: to serve as an insurer of last resort.

The Beach Plan currently charges premiums that are 5 percent or 15 percent above what regular insurers can offer, depending on the policy. Under a previous announcement, that gap will rise to 15 percent or 25 percent above what regular insurers can offer.

So some property owners in the Wilmington area could see premiums jump 30 percent under Thursday's announcement and an additional increase under the agreement to boost the Beach Plan margin to 25 percent. Meanwhile, areas on the western side of the state could face lower premiums: Charlotte homeowners will see premiums down 4 percent.

"There are going to be a lot of people who are going to get crushed by this," said Rep. Bonner Stiller, R-Brunswick.

The insurance industry had initially proposed seeking an average statewide rate increase of 19 percent but backed off the idea when Beach Plan leaders increased the premiums.

A General Assembly committee studying the issue also met Thursday to discuss improving the financial health of the Beach Plan. Committee members proposed a surcharge in the event that a catastrophic hurricane depleted the state's money but agreed to revisit the idea after discussing it further.

The Beach Plan would charge hundreds of millions of dollars in assessments to the insurers in the case of a major hurricane. Those costs often get passed along to homeowners outside of the coastal area.

But the companies are worried because the assessments aren't capped. In the event of an even larger disaster, the state may lean on companies to foot the remainder of the bill, threatening the health of the companies. Encompass Insurance, a division of Allstate Insurance, has said it won't write any new homeowner policies in North Carolina because of those concerns.

Pilot staff writer Lauren King contributed to this story.