Climate change is disrupting the insurance industry
Today we’re talking about that thing we all sort of dread paying: insurance.
It’s a big business and a critical part of the housing market and our economy. But in the era of climate change, this multitrillion-dollar industry is being disrupted in a major way.
There’s data that shows insured losses from extreme weather disasters will exceed $100 billion for the second year in a row. And in one state in particular, the situation is, well, messy.
“Florida has more landfalling hurricanes than any other state. That’s always been a risk of living there. But a lot of people say the bigger problem in the Florida insurance market is actually even more directly human made, and that is fraud and litigation,” said Amy Scott, senior correspondent at Marketplace and host of season 2 of the “How We Survive” podcast.
On the show, Amy walks us through Florida’s complicated insurance marketplace and explains what’s at stake if the insurance industry doesn’t prepare for our changing climate.
In the News Fix, there are signs the U.S. economy is dis-inflating. Kai talks about what this might mean for interest rates. Meanwhile, Kimberly highlights a blockbuster case before the Supreme Court that could have major implications for the 2024 election and beyond.
Later, we’ll hear from a listener who picked up ice skating, and a writer explains what she got wrong about the mantra “It’s better to give than to receive.”
Here’s everything we talked about today:
- Check out episode 5 and episode 6 of the “How We Survive” podcast on Florida’s broken insurance market
- “Insurance needs insurance too: reinsurance and cat bonds explained” from APM Research Lab
- “Insured losses from disasters will exceed $100B for second year in a row, led by Hurricane Ian, new data shows” from CBS Miami
- “In high-stakes election case, justices will decide validity of ‘independent state legislature’ theory” from SCOTUSblog
- “Club Q alleged shooter charged with murder, hate crimes in second court appearance” from Colorado Public Radio
- “The Best Santa Hats for Christmas” from Wirecutter
As 2022 winds down, so are we! Join us Friday for our final episode of the year. We’re hosting a special holiday-inspired Economics on Tap starting at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT on YouTube livestream.
And if you have a holiday cocktail recipe for Kimberly, please send it our way. We’re at makemesmart@marketplace.org or 508-U-B-SMART!
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