cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/17110554

I'll note that a large chunk of the burned properties depend on the state-run FAIR plan, which provides much weaker coverage (eg: not replacement cost) than private insurers. The FAIR plan also has limited reserves, which it will replenish by issuing an assessment on commercial insurers and their policyholders.

Two congressional reports make clear that, with increasingly frequent hurricanes, floods, and fires, "the model of insurance as it stands right now isn't working."

The choices made in the next few years will determine whether we preserve the possibility of an insurable future.

https://insure-our-future.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IoF-Scorecard-2024.pdf

In short:

• A $500 annual increase in home insurance premiums correlates with a 20% rise in mortgage delinquencies, based on a study not yet peer-reviewed by New York University researchers.
• In some counties in Florida, some homeowners report spending over 5% of their income on insurance, said a researcher.
• Higher reinsurance costs, severe weather and climate-driven disasters have caused insurance companies to raise premiums, with some homeowners opting to pay off mortgages early or forego insurance entirely.
• In fact, a report published last August noted that last year, 30% of losses from natural disasters went uninsured.

Key quote:

“This is how many people across the country are beginning to directly experience how climate change is changing our world and the cost it’s going to have.”

— Moira Birss, research fellow at the Climate and Community Institute.

Abstract

Narratives surrounding ionizing radiation have often minimized radioactivity’s impact on the health of human and non-human animals and the natural environment. Many Cold War research policies, practices, and interpretations drove nuclear technology forward by institutionally obscuring empirical evidence of radiation’s disproportionate and low-dose harm—a legacy we still confront. Women, children, and pregnancy development are particularly sensitive to exposure from radioactivity, suffering more damage per dose than adult males, even down to small doses, making low doses a cornerstone of concern. Evidence of compounding generational damage could indicate increased sensitivity through heritable impact. This essay examines the existing empirical evidence demonstrating these sensitivities, and how research institutions and regulatory authorities have devalued them, willingly sacrificing health in the service of maintaining and expanding nuclear technology (Nadesan 2019). Radiation’s disproportionate impacts should now be the research and policy focus, as society is poised to make crucial and long-lasting decisions regarding climate change mitigation and future energy sources (Brown 2019b).