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Insurance “Oversight” in Texas — FAIL

Sadly, this is what passes for insurance oversight by the Texas state government: Farmers Insurance raised their homeowners coverage rates by 10% last June without permission from the state, which under our “fair and balanced” laws they are allowed to do. At the time, the State Insurance Commissioner called the rate hike “excessive and unfairly discriminatory.”

Now, in a settlement reached between Farmers and the state, Farmers has agreed to roll back the rate increase to 4.5%. Great news for Texas consumers right? Well, not exactly. See, Farmers gets to keep all the premiums they collected between June of 2009 and March 16, 2011, when the rollback takes effect. So Farmers gets to keep millions of dollars in premiums collected over a 21-month period even though the state says the premiums are excessive. What a great system. Farmers could just have easily raised their rates by 100% and then negotiated with the state for a rollback. They would have gotten to keep even more millions of dollars then.

Texas: making consumers bend over backward to provide a “business-friendly” economic environment.

Bob Kraft

I am a Dallas, Texas lawyer who has had the privilege of helping thousands of clients since 1971 in the areas of Personal Injury law and Social Security Disability.

About This Blog

The title of this blog reflects my attitude toward those government agencies and insurance companies that routinely mistreat injured or disabled people. As a Dallas, Texas lawyer, I've spent more than 45 years trying to help those poor folk, and I have been frustrated daily by the actions of the people on the other side of their claims. (Sorry if I offended you...)

If you find this type of information interesting or helpful, please visit my law firm's main website at KraftLaw.com. You will find many more articles and links. Thank you for your time.

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