NORTH DAKOTA – North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread doesn’t believe homeowners will will have their flood insurance canceled like Californians have been with fire insurance.
“That’s a federal program, so that would generally have to be done through the federal government. I don’t anticipate that happening. You will see some changing of policies, you’ll see some tweaks in the industry, but right now in North Dakota our property insurance market remains competitive, it remains relatively affordable when you compare it to our neighboring states and across the country,” Godfread said.
Insurers have left California, canceled fire insurance plans or chosen to not renew homeowner insurance plans because of regulatory issues and restrictions in the state. They’ve also done so because they consider areas to be high risk for wildfires.
Godfread mentions insurance is not for profit adding, on a national average, for every $1 in premium a company gets, $1.10 is spent on claims. He also cites several catastrophic storms in the last few years and costs to replace homes going up as to why that may be.
Godfread says the Insurance Department is crafting legislation to loosen restrictions in the property market to allow more money in the primary and noncontributory market. The department has studied what it can do to attract more property insurers in North Dakota. He believes more competition means better insurance rates.
