At the July 31 Nevada Legislature Joint Interim Standing Committee on Commerce and Labor, Nevada Department of Insurance (NDOI) Commissioner Scott Kipper and Insurance Regulation Liaison Adam Plain provided an overview of the issues regarding affordability and accessibility of insurance. In particular, they addressed the challenges obtaining homeowners insurance and commercial habitational insurance for apartments and condominiums in Nevada. This is a nationwide issue with the biggest impact on property insurance in the Western states due to the increasing incidence of wildfires. Simply put, there is an increase in carriers that are not renewing policies.
Commissioner Kipper provided some statistics for Nevada:
- There are currently 90 carriers in the state writing home insurance policies and 64 carriers writing commercial policies.
- Since the beginning of the year, there have been 4,731 cancelled policies in northern Nevada and 161 in southern Nevada.
- There are 64 carriers that have 19,315 commercial habitational policies in force.
The NDOI website has an online shopping tool where people can obtain coverage information based on zip codes. Insurance can only be purchased through a producer who has a contractual relationship with a specific carrier.
In addition to the online resource, the NDOI is looking into options for relief including a Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plan which is a state-mandated property insurance program that provides coverage to people and businesses who are unable to get insurance in the regular market. Currently, 32 states have FAIR plans with most states limiting coverage to $750,000 for homeowners’ coverage and $5 million for commercial habitation coverage. Stay tuned for more information on this issue. The NDOI will be issuing a request for quote and selecting an external firm to conduct a feasibility study of a Nevada FAIR Plan.
