The End of Home Insurance in Idaho

If you're responsible and want to ensure you're protected from issues that you may or may not be responsible for, you first buy insurance. Idahoans are told to buy insurance, whether it's for their home, business, auto, or anything else that matters.

It's common sense to pay for protection against probable and improbable events that occur in our lives. Depending on your status in life, can you ever have enough insurance?

Some states have decided to cancel insurance policies or, more alarmingly, not honor the ones they took payments to fulfill. A few to many insurance companies have moved out of Florida due to the continued damage caused by hurricanes.

Californians have felt the pain of unaffordable insurance prices, which leave homeowners broke or gambling with their properties without insurance.

The New York Times breaks down the national trend of insurance companies denying homeowners coverage. As they point out in the article, you can't get a mortgage if you can't get insurance. Remember what happened to all those good people in California last year?

Idaho has earned a reputation as a state that allows for liberty and limited state regulation of money-producing businesses. However, the move to end home insurance has arrived in the Gem State.

Why would insurance companies choose not to offer home insurance in Idaho? We don't have hurricanes, tornadoes, or any natural disasters. (Let's pray that welcomed trend continues!)

However, Idaho does have a massive problem with wildfires, which occur during the spring, summer, and sometimes the fall months. Remember last year's fires in Eastern Oregon, which caused the interstate to be shut down?

Channel 6 reports that Idaho has begun rapidly losing insurance companies. They cite a report from the Idaho Department of Insurance.

Since 2023, Idaho lost 22 insurance carriers out of 91 that were offering insurance and a number of remaining insurance companies stopped writing new policies, according to the Idaho Department of Insurance.

The legislature is looking into the problem; however, if insurance companies leave the Gem State or increase the cost of home insurance, Idaho's housing crisis will only worsen.

We'll continue to update you on this story as it develops.