Governor says Coast insurance shouldn’t rival mortgage costs

April 29--LONG BEACH -- Coast residents hope a bill Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law Wednesday morning at St. Thomas Catholic Church will lower property-insurance rates that skyrocketed after Hurricane Katrina, though a similar law in Alabama has so far failed to reduce coastal premium prices.

The Mississippi Clarity Bill requires insurance companies to report premiums collected and losses paid statewide by ZIP code. The Mississippi Affordable Wind Insurance Coalition, a faith-based group that pushed for the law, believes the numbers will show Coast residents are paying disproportionately high premiums.

Bryant believes the bill could lead to lower rates. He congratulated MAWIC for getting the law passed unanimously, which he said is more than he's able to do. Biloxi Rep. Scott Delano, who authored the bill, looked on with other members of the Coast delegation as Bryant signed it.

Bryant believes the bill could lead to lower Coast insurance rates.

"Any time you get transparency, you also get competition," Bryant told the Sun Herald. "Believe me, this is a market that insurance companies continue to be involved in, especially for areas like fire and casualty.

"As we begin to see and understand what the premium costs are -- for example, what their loss ratio might be -- then I think it will stir competition between insurance companies that want to remain in this market and that's our hope."

He said Coast residents often talk to him about what a financial burden insurance premiums have become.

"When your insurance is as expensive as your mortgage, then it's hard for a family to buy a home," he said. "... We appreciate that insurance companies are a private concern but, again, they spend millions of dollars a year advertising their premium rates, the cost of their product.

"This is all we're asking them to do with this bill, is to let us know what those costs truly are, what their loss ratios are and where they may differ from one area to the other in Mississippi."

The movement for a clarity law started with a faith-based coalition in Alabama, which is spreading its message to other coastal states. The Alabama Legislature passed a clarity law in 2012. The Alabama homeowners coalition says the numbers collected show that coast policies are 300 to 600 percent higher than in inland areas, while losses are, at most, only 25 percent higher.

Still, the numbers have not yet lowered rates.

MAWIC member Paulette Mowbray said something needs to give. The 68-year-old has gone back to work full time so she can afford to keep her house. Her insurance premiums -- flood, homeowners and wind -- total about $3,800 a year on a 1,500-square-foot home.

"The insurance companies thought everybody had gone to sleep on the Coast," Mowbray said. "Now, they know we're not asleep. They're going to have to justify the rates they are asking us to pay."

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