The Week Ahead: Property Insurance and Its Impact on Consumers

This coming week, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will present a hybrid hearing titled, “Perspectives on Challenges in the Property Insurance Market and the Impact on Consumers,” set for Thursday, September 7 at 9:00 a.m. Central.

Witnesses scheduled to testify and share insight include Douglas Heller, Director of Insurance for the Consumer Federation of America (CFA); and Jerry Theodorou, Policy Director, Finance, Insurance and Trade for the R Street Institute.

Early estimates analyzing damage from last week’s Hurricane Idalia from CoreLogic shows that 808,321 single-family and multifamily homes along the Florida Gulf Coast with a reconstruction cost value (RCV) of approximately $238.4 billion were at potential risk of storm surge damage from Hurricane Idalia (these figures were assessed assuming Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, based on the National Hurricane Center’s August 29th forecast).

As Director of Insurance for the CFA, Heller is a nationally-recognized insurance expert. During two decades of work on public policy and regulatory matters related to property-casualty insurance, Heller has authored op-eds, articles, and reports on auto insurance pricing in the U.S., has overseen regulatory challenges to insurance company rates and practices, has provided expertise in insurance-related litigation, and, for nine years, served as Executive Director of the national consumer advocacy organization, Consumer Watchdog. Heller’s work has saved policyholders hundreds of millions of dollars on insurance premiums. In addition to conducting research for and providing expertise to consumer rights organizations, Heller is a member of U.S. Department of Treasury’s Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance, an appointee of California’s Insurance Commissioner, serving as a board member of the California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan (CAARP), which oversees that state’s innovative Low-Cost Auto Insurance Program for low-income drivers, and he serves on the Executive Board of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.

Theodorou is Director of the Finance, Insurance and Trade Policy Program for the R Street Institute, where he helps develop and advance effective free market public policy solutions to complex issues where federal and state governments have intervened. Since Jerry joined R Street two years ago, he has testified on insurance issues three times to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and the full Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. His reputation as an independent scholar has made his thought leadership in publications and presentations widely sought after. Prior to R Street, Theodorou was a Director of insurance research at Conning in Hartford, Connecticut. Before joining Conning, he worked for the global insurance giant American International Group (AIG) in a variety of global underwriting, operations and strategy roles, including close to a decade of expatriate managerial assignments in Europe and the Middle East.

More speakers may be added to speak at the hearing.

Click here for more information or to register for this event.

Here's what else is happening in The Week Ahead:

• Fannie Mae's Refinance Application-Level Index (RALI) (Tuesday)
• MBA Weekly Applications Survey (Wednesday)
• Realtor.com Weekly Housing Market Recap (Wednesday)
• Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (Thursday)
• U.S. Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (Thursday)