Weekly Roundup: Massive Pay for Insurance CEOs, Rate Hikes and Non-Renewals for Homeowners
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2025
Contact: contact@insurancefairnessproject.com
Weekly Roundup: Massive Pay for Insurance CEOs, Rate Hikes and Non-Renewals for Homeowners
Each week, the Insurance Fairness Project highlights the latest developments in the national climate-driven property insurance crisis. For more insurance updates, follow us on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and Bluesky.
1/ INSURANCE CEOS SEE MASSIVE SALARY AND BONUSES WHILE CONSUMERS SEE RATE HIKES AND NON-RENEWALS: New data from Consumer Federation of America (CFA) shows that CEOs at the nation’s top ten insurers took home $134 million in compensation last year (a 27% bump), even as consumers faced record rate hikes and widespread non-renewals. From 2021 to 2024, homeowners insurance costs increased by 24% nationwide, significantly exceeding the inflation rate, according to CFA’s analysis.
Consumer Federation of America: Insurance CEOs Get 27% Salary and Bonus Bump While Consumers See Premium Hikes and Non-Renewals
“Most Americans are required to buy insurance products, which means that lawmakers and regulators have a special obligation to make sure the premiums we are charged are reasonable. That must include protecting policyholders’ pocketbooks from these extraordinary CEO pay packages that are currently pushed onto our premiums,” said Michael DeLong.
2/ NEW BRIEF FROM CCI PROPOSES SOLUTIONS TO THE HOME INSURANCE CRISIS: The Climate and Community Institute outlines how the current home insurance model prioritizes insurer profits over household protection, exacerbating insurance gaps. CCI calls for a holistic response, focusing on safe, affordable housing for all, not just profits. They also say policy changes should prioritize comprehensive disaster risk reduction, equitable and affordable insurance, and new housing in low-risk areas.
Climate and Community Institute: Protection or Profit? Transformative Solutions to the Home Insurance Crisis
Key policy recommendations:
States should set up Housing Resilience Agencies, new entities for housing risk reduction and insurance provision.
States should redesign existing insurers of last resort, as detailed in CCI’s research.
The federal government should redesign the National Flood Insurance Program into a National Disaster Insurance Program.
The federal government should set up federal reinsurance for Housing Resilience Agencies and redesigned FAIR Plans.
3/ NEW PODCAST UNCOVERS WILDFIRE INSURANCE ABUSES: In a new investigative podcast series titled “Smoke & Mirrors: Investigating Home Insurance Abuses,” Consumer Watchdog is exposing how major insurance companies deny consumers benefits they’re entitled to following disasters. The series delves into the intricate network of lesser-known subcontractors and hidden technologies that contribute to delayed claims, insufficient payouts, and outright denials.
Consumer Watchdog: New Investigative Podcast Series Uncovers Wildfire Insurance Abuses
“When the insurance company chooses all the vendors, uses those vendors to limit the scope of work, and then uses those vendors’ alleged certifications and expertise to deny you payment on your choice of vendors, then how is a homeowner supposed to remediate their home?” said Karen Girard, an Eaton Fire survivor who’s been battling Farmers. “And what is the value of insurance? Because it’s not actually paying to remediate your home.”
4/ NEW ADVICE FOR PROPERTY INSURANCE AND SEVERE WEATHER: A Minnesota listening session focused on how property insurance intersects with increasing severe-weather risks. Consumers worried whether their insurance would “be there” when needed, and raised concerns about the financial implications of the insurance crisis for prospective homebuyers and disaster victims.
Echo Press: Listening session offers advice for property insurance and severe weather
"I think one of the things that's really challenging these days is understanding what it might cost you to rebuild or repair a home," Brickwedde said. "The cost of materials, labor, inflation and all those things are affecting all of our pocketbooks. Those are all affecting the cost of what it would take to rebuild your home."
5/ INSURANCE COSTS BRING BACK TALK OF PRICE CAPS: New reporting from the Wall Street Journal shows escalating insurance rates are putting immense pressure on politicians. As a result, insurers in both Republican and Democratic states are facing calls to implement price caps.
Wall Street Journal: Runaway Insurance Costs Bring Back Talk of Price Caps
“Rate increases are top of mind for every policymaker across the country. Consumers are going to them and saying, ‘I can’t deal with a 30% rate increase, or a 40% rate increase’,” said Jon Godfread, president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
6/ COSTLIEST 6 MONTHS OF DISASTERS ON RECORD: The U.S. experienced its most expensive first half of the year ever for climate-related disasters, but because the Trump administration discontinued the NOAA program that tracked weather events, no one would have known if a nonprofit hadn’t taken over tracking and reporting. Their analysis shows 14 weather events exceeded $1 billion in damages in the first six months of 2025.
Resources
Insurance Fairness Project: Polling – Voters Want Their Government to Address the Property Insurance Crisis
Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project: Mapping the Home Insurance Crisis
Consumer Federation of America: Overburdened: The Dramatic Increase in Homeowners Insurance Premiums and its Impacts on American Homeowners
Brookings Institution: Homeowners insurance in an era of climate change
Consumer Federation of America and Climate and Community Institute: Penalized: The Hidden Cost of Credit Score in Homeowners Insurance Premiums
Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen: Rising Property Insurance Premiums: The Uneven Risks to Household and Systemic Financial Stability
Climate and Community Institute (CCI): Insurers of Last Resort: Why Today’s FAIR Plans Need a Redesign to Address the Home Insurance Crisis
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The Insurance Fairness Project is an information hub dedicated to offering insights into the home insurance crisis, exploring its drivers and highlighting solutions alongside issue experts and community advocates.
