Since about the time of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Homeowner's Insurance Policies and other kinds of Property Insurance Policies have been adversely affected by Catastrophe Claims. Coverage provisions have been narrowed and new Exclusions have been added. A director of consumer services at Florida's Department of Financial Services is quoted on these issues, for example, by Jeff Plungis, "Homeowners May be Twice Burned as Insurers Cap Policy Coverage" (Bloomberg.com, Wed., July 16, 2008). "Policies are written annually so insurers can add exclusions." Id. (This last observation makes sense, but it applies to virtually all Insurance Policies.)
One transformation of Coverage has been the nearly uniform refusal to provide "guaranteed replacement cost" Coverage, with Property Insurance Companies instead offering Coverage with a cap called "extended replacement cost" which by any name does not cover the actual cost of replacing a home totally destroyed by a Catastrophe. These developments over the last 15+ years, which have been chronicled in many places including in previous posts here, for example, lead to the newspaper article's wise advice that "people should review their homeowners' coverage to make sure dollar amounts keep pace with currrent construction expenses." Id.
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