Gordon I. Ito, Insurance Commissioner of Hawaii has ordered all of the homeowner insurers in that state to file new rates following a review by the Insurance Division which determined that the current rates being charged to policyholders were “excessive” when they were compared to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).
On June 8, 2011, a memorandum was issued by Insurance Commissioner Ito, stating that homeowner insurers are required to have their rate filings reviewed by the Insurance Division for their approval.
According to Ito, following a review of the latest data, he determined that the current homeowners insurance rates, especially considering the financial challenges that they already face due to the recovering economy. He explained that the purpose of the change is to help to make certain that homeowners are receiving fair treatment. He added that the implementation of the decreases in the rates by the Insurance Division is an effort to assist homeowners to keep more of their own money so that they will be able to improve the economy of the state.
When Ito looked into the most recent NAIC data, he discovered that among all insurers within Hawaii, the losses being seen are far lower than those of the national average and are a great deal lower than what is required in order to ensure that the insurers can generate reasonable rates of return.
Hawaii homeowner insurers have until October 6 of this year to file their new rates, or they may face legal sanctioning.
