How could CA approve this????

[RJ-MacReady]

Huge mistake by the state of California approving a 17% insurance rate hike. You can't talk about affordability and thr middle class while rubber stamping exorbitant insurance rate hikes. Sorry but this is a huge blunder and further erodes Govenor Newsom's 2028 bid.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-judge-approves-state-farms-17-insurance-increase/

[AltairIV]

1. agreed

[Jose Garcia]

2. Expensive insurance is better than no insurance

If insurers can't make money in CA they will just stop doing business there.

[LiberalLoner]

3. This. I see a time coming and not so long in the future, when self-insurance will be our only option.

[k_buddy762]

4. Par for the course.

[SocialDemocrat61]

5. It was approved by a judge

Newsom had nothing to do with it. Plus it’s only home owners insurance not health or car insurance.

[marybourg]

6. Insurers are not charities. They are corporations.

And like all corporations, their purpose, by law, is to make a profit for their shareholders. If they cannot make a profit for their shareholders, they must leave the market at some point. So, painful as it is for us, the customers, we must pay up or do without. At least there is some regulatory body between us and them.

[Johonny]

7. If the lumber has a big tariff, and nails, and pipes

And let's say you insured something built of the lumber, steel, etc . . . Cost is going up at a rate that will include those tariffs. It makes sense to me.

[usonian]

8. How about "California State Insurance Commission approves State Farm's 17% increase in home insurance premiums"

The State Insurance Commission is a state agency (allegedly) rolling in cash from approving every G.D. rate increase requested by utilities and insurance companies.

[RJ-MacReady]

9. same here in NJ

The BPU has never declined an energy rate hike.

[bluesbassman]

10. At least California has a regulatory agency that exerts some control.

Homeowner insurance is rising across the country due to natural disasters from climate change and the skyrocketing costs of building materials. Here in Texas we're seeing increased instances of tornado activity, increases in major hurricanes, and baseball sized hail that takes out a roof or un covered car in a matter of minutes. Our insurance department, TDI, is little more than a rubber stamp, and many insurers have either left the state or quit writing new policies. Rates have exploded over the last five years, to the point that many people pay more for insurance than they do for property tax which is among the highest in the nation.

[HeartachesNhangovers]

11. The 17% increase is only temporary while the state considers a 30% increase later this year, according to the Guardian:

The new rates are temporary until the state has a chance to consider State Farm’s request from last year for a 30% rate increase for homeowners. The hearings for that request are set for October.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/14/california-state-farm-insurance-premium-increase

California wildfires are real. And real expensive. Someone has to pay, and that's how insurance works: the pool of insured pay enough in premiums to cover all the payouts, plus enough profit for the insurer to make it worthwhile doing business.