Every now and then, I like to remind our readers that – despite our homes not being any more risky or expensive than residences in other disaster-prone parts of the country, including California – Oklahoma has the second-highest insurance rates in America.
It’s something we first inconveniently amplified here:
If you own a home – or rent from someone who does, and therefore pay their passed-down costs – you should read the New York Times article.
The general synopsis is that states with insurance commissioners that roll over and ask for belly rubs from the insurance industry pay far higher premiums than those with stricter rules.
Earlier this week, Oklahoma Watch dove deeper into the issue.
Specifically, they compared Oklahoma’s “file-and-use” regulatory system—which lets insurers raise rates first and answer questions never—to California’s “prior-approval” model, which actually makes insurance companies get the okay from the state before jacking your rates.
A recent LendingTree study found that Oklahomans pay the highest average homeowners insurance rate in the country at $6,331 per year; the same study found that California ranked lowest, at $1,260 per year. As a percentage of average income, the difference between Oklahoma and California was even more stark: Oklahomans pay 6.84% of their total income on homeowners insurance; Californians pay 0.88%.
That’s pretty wild! Imagine having 5% of your income freed up each month to save up money for a California home you can’t afford. How's that for some California dreamin' on a winter's – or hot August – day.
“Whatever Patrick! It’s not all wildflowers and sunshine! Some people in California can’t even get home insurance. Don’t you watch cable news?”
I don’t watch cable news, nor do I easily fall for insurance industry propaganda, but I get what you’re saying, Internet Commenter That Lives Inside My Head.
California has its issues, and the only commonality it shares with Oklahoma is that we both have tall Governors who don’t like to wear facemasks, but that doesn’t explain why Okahomans spend billions more in excessive premiums despite our home and property being much less expensive.
Check this out:
In 2019, an auto insurance study published by the Consumer Federation of America compared the regulatory framework of California with states across the country; California’s prior approval system had saved California drivers $154 billion on automobile insurance policies over a 20-year period, outperforming many states, Oklahoma included, that operated on a file-and-use regulatory framework, the study said.
The 2019 Consumer Federation of America study got specific: had Oklahoma adopted a prior approval framework like California’s, Oklahomans would have saved $1 billion per year on automobile insurance alone.
Yep, that’s right. We could have saved $1 billion dollars on auto insurance in 15 minutes or less if we switched systems. That has to be at least worth one call to Geico, right?
Although they didn't call the Gecko, Oklahoma Watch did reach out to Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready to get his thoughts on the situation.
As a long-time insurance industry executive who depends on the industry to help finance his campaign and get him elected to an oversight position that earns $126,000 a year, he obviously has a unique insight into the matter, and can logically explain what’s being done to address the situation:
Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready has refused to speak to Oklahoma Watch on any aspect of the work of the Oklahoma Department of Insurance.
Hmmn. Glen’s refusing to talk. That’s kind of weird, but in all fairness, he's been busy hammering out car theft prevention tips, so he probably didn’t have the time to get back.
Plus, why put yourself in a position where you have to bite the hand that feeds?
According to Oklahoma Watch, the Oklahoma Legislature is now looking into the issue, which I guess means even right-wing Christian Nationalist conservatives don’t like high insurance rates.
You would think that would lead to some possible reforms, but once insurance executives, grifters, right-wing psychos, and other establishment players meddle with the process, they’ll probably just blame the high insurance rates on illegal immigration and ban immigrants from owning insurance.
Naturlly, we’ll be here to cover it when it happens.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
