Brentwood, NY - Fostering competition and mitigating potential losses should be what New York legislators concerned about the coastal homeowners insurance market should focus on, according to the American Insurance Assocation (AIA).

In testimony before a Senate Insurance Committee hearing on coastal homeowners’ issues, AIA said the current market is largely healthy with very little growth in the New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association (NYPIUA), the market of last resort.

“Homeowners’ insurance has been, and should continue to be, available to downstate homeowners. Any governmental efforts to address availability in the homeowners’ insurance market should focus on fostering greater competition, attracting new capital to the market, and creating a regulatory environment that allows insurers to manage their catastrophic exposures,” said James J. Whittle, AIA assistant general counsel.

AIA supports legislation (S. 8358) that would strengthen the state’s coastal market assistance program (C-MAP), reconvene a panel to study issues facing the state’s coastal residents and require the Superintendent of Insurance to undertake efforts to attract new insurance carriers to the market.

AIA also told the panel that maintaining strong building codes and incentives for homeowners to retrofit their properties to make them safer in the face of a hurricane would be beneficial.

AIA opposes a state catastrophe fund or legislation that restricts choices in the market place, such as a proposal to require insurers to submit a withdrawal plan when non-renewing four percent of their writings in a single territory.

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SOURCE: American Insurance Assocation

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