NC mobile homeowners won’t get hearing on insurance rates until after Nov. 5 election
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North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey has pushed back on the Rate Bureau’s request for sweeping double-digit rate hikes for insurance for mobile homes.
“We’re not in agreement,” Causey said in a release.
He appears in no rush to hold a public hearing.
Causey has scheduled a court date for April 7, 2025 — almost a year from now and well after the general election on Nov. 5, when he’s up for re-election. In the meantime, he and the Rate Bureau, which represents insurance companies, can try to settle a new rate through litigation.
Jarred Chappell, the Rate Bureau’s chief operating officer, said he wasn’t surprised by the commissioner’s response.
“A notice of hearing is a normal part of the rate filing process,” he told The N&O in an email. “In many cases, these filings are settled prior to the hearing.” With the hearing’s date slated so far into the future, he added, “we believe that this gives ample time” to work with the department on a new rate.
Causey’s challenger, state Sen. Natasha Marcus, was less optimistic. She questioned the hearing’s timing, as well as the commissioner’s intentions.
In eight years as the state’s insurance commissioner, she pointed out, Causey has never held a public hearing on homeowners’ rates, instead settling prior to the hearing.
“Unless voters reject him at the polls,” Marcus argued, “he’ll do what he always does: cancel the public hearing and agree in a private meeting with the insurance companies.”
The Rate Bureau filed the request to increase mobile home insurance premiums on April 8.
The proposal includes overall state average increases of 82.9% for mobile home fire policies (MH-F) over a three-year period; and 49.9% for mobile home casualty policies (MH-C) over a three-year period.
Rising construction and labor costs, weather-related losses, and the state of the reinsurance market are making it harder for them to operate in the state, they argue. As risks mount and underwriters tighten guidelines, more residents are losing insurance.
Separately, the Rate Bureau is asking for a 42.2% average increase in home insurance rates across the state. A court date has been scheduled for Oct. 7.
What to know
State law gives the insurance commissioner 45 days to issue an order once the hearing concludes.
Once the order is issued, the Rate Bureau has the right to appeal the decision to the N.C. Court of Appeals. A Court of Appeals order could then be appealed to the N.C. Supreme Court.
It’s a phased increase to “mitigate impact,” Chappell said, with annual changes compounded year-over-year to reach the final approved rate by 2026.
The MH-F increase request is 24.9% for 2024, 21.2% for 2025 and 20.9% for 2026.
The MH-C increase request is 15.9% for 2024, 13.9% for 2025 and 13.5% for 2026.
The Rate Bureau requests that the increases take effect on Nov. 1 of each year.
The Rate Bureau’s last mobile home rate increase filing was in 2022, resulting in a settlement of 10% for MH-C, and 15% for MH-F.
Both took effect Aug. 1, 2023.
Home insurance rates have been rising rapidly in recent years and more large rate hikes are on the way. Have increases in the cost of insurance affected you and your home and family? We would like to hear from you. Send email to callam@newsobserver.com.
This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 5:30 AM with the headline "NC mobile homeowners won’t get hearing on insurance rates until after Nov. 5 election."
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