Beware Bad Faith in Home Insurance in Wake of Growing Hurricanes | Opinion

If you follow reporting from 60 Minutes or NPR, you’ve likely noticed we’re facing a national crisis in home insurance and bad faith actors in the insurance industry, with Florida as the epicenter of what’s to come for other states.

Recently, New Orleans Public Radio (an NPR member station) aired a segment titled “The Stormy Insurance Crisis in the Sunshine State,” and it only scratches the surface of the growing problem. The U.S. home insurance market is in turmoil, with major insurers abandoning high-risk states or raising premiums to unsustainable levels. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Florida, where climate change has made hurricanes more frequent and severe. Homeowners are either being left uninsured or forced to pay premiums that have tripled or quadrupled.

The state’s response has been less than effective. Florida’s government-backed insurer, Citizens, has expanded to cover those who can’t find private insurance, but the system is underfunded and vulnerable. Meanwhile, smaller, underregulated companies have entered the market, profiting while leaving homeowners exposed to financial risk.

What’s happening in Florida isn’t just a local issue—it’s a warning for the rest of the country. As climate change accelerates, states across the U.S. are seeing insurance companies either pull out or drastically increase premiums in response to risks from wildfires, floods, and severe storms. Despite legislative efforts to fix the system, the focus has largely been on protecting insurance companies, leaving homeowners stranded without affordable coverage.

On 60 Minutes, a segment featuring Florida insurance adjuster Ben Mandell revealed how deep this crisis goes. Mandell, a whistleblower, exposed his company for altering damage reports in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. His story isn’t just another post-storm headline—it’s a clear case of insurance bad faith, where companies act against their clients’ best interests to protect their own profits.

Mandell reported that many of his assessments calling for necessary roof replacements were changed by his superiors to cut costs. When he refused to go along with the edits, he was fired. (The company denies wrongdoing). What Mandell described wasn’t a one-off; it’s part of a broader trend of insurance companies cutting corners to avoid payouts. In Florida, the insurance industry is cracking under pressure. But instead of meeting their obligations, some insurers are engaging in unethical practices to stay afloat.

Florida has always been a risky place for insurers due to its vulnerability to hurricanes. Even before Hurricane Ian, many insurance companies had either left the state or gone bankrupt. This left homeowners scrambling to find coverage and paying exorbitant premiums for limited policies.

Florida’s insurance crisis didn’t remain contained within the state’s borders. After Hurricane Idalia in 2023, the financial strain placed on the state’s insurance market began rippling across other jurisdictions. National insurance companies, overwhelmed by the mounting claims in Florida, started reconsidering their exposure in other coastal states. Areas like Texas, Louisiana, and the Carolinas, all susceptible to similar natural disasters, saw insurers tightening policy terms or raising premiums, fearing a similar fate.

This cascading effect also caught the attention of policymakers in neighboring states. Legislative efforts to stabilize insurance markets expanded beyond Florida, with discussions emerging about the necessity for federal intervention or regional insurance pools. The increasing frequency of natural disasters in the Gulf and Atlantic regions highlighted that Florida’s insurance woes were just the tip of a larger, nationwide issue.

As climate change worsens, states across the country are facing similar insurance challenges. Wildfires in California, floods in the Midwest, and hurricanes along the Gulf Coast are all becoming more frequent and more severe. Insurance companies are struggling to keep up with these new risks.

When insurance companies refuse to pay out legitimate claims, the ripple effects go beyond individual homeowners. Communities are left struggling to rebuild, local economies take a hit, and trust in the entire insurance system erodes. If we don’t figure out a viable way to fix this issue now, we risk a nationwide insurance crisis that could leave millions of Americans unprotected when disaster strikes.

So, what can be done? First, stronger regulations at both state and federal levels are necessary to hold insurance companies accountable for bad faith practices. Whistleblowers like Ben Mandell should be protected, not punished, for exposing unethical behavior and lawyers need the legal tools to bring these cases to court and ensure justice for policyholders.

The insurance industry must also adapt its business models to account for climate change. Instead of treating these disasters as isolated incidents, insurers need to develop strategies that reflect the reality of a warming planet. Regulators must ensure that these changes don’t come at the expense of policyholders.

Finally, transparency is key. Insurers should be required to disclose how they handle claims, especially in disaster-prone areas. Independent audits and oversight would go a long way toward ensuring that companies are acting in good faith.

Florida is the canary in this coal mine, but it won’t be the last state to face an insurance crisis. Climate change is reshaping the risks homeowners face across the country, and insurance companies are struggling to keep up. Without action, this problem will only worsen, spreading beyond Florida to affect millions more Americans.

The time to act is now—before the next hurricane, wildfire, or flood exposes even more cracks in an already fragile system.

A Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, Aron Solomon, JD, is the chief strategy officer forAmplify. He has taught entrepreneurship at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania, and was elected to Fastcase 50, recognizing the top 50 legal innovators in the world. Aron has been featured in Newsweek, Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes, CBS News, CNBC, USA Today, ESPN, Abogados, Today’s Esquire, TechCrunch, The Hill, BuzzFeed, Venture Beat, The Independent, Fortune China, Yahoo!,ABA Journal, Law.com, The Boston Globe, and many other leading publications across the globe.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.