Swiss Re insures the insurers. They are backstopping the huge losses that retail insurance companies incur from large-scale disasters and catastrophes.
Places like Florida have had commercial insurance companies pull out of the hurricane insurance market. The same is true for California's earthquake insurance offerings. In both cases, the state has stepped in to try and cover those circumstances. I expect there will be a demand from citizens for this to happen as fire insurance rates rise and they look for subsidies for living in areas like the wildland interface zones that have been growing as people move out of neighborhoods into the wild.
Risk transfer is the name of the game. Governments need to reject the move to cover people shirking their individual responsibilities to assume the risks they incur by the choices they make in where they live. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is a classic example of what not to do — but do we ever learn?
After writing the above, I spoke with my friend Marty in California. He said that his insurance company (he lives in Shingle Springs) dropped him because of the wildfire risks in his general area. So — it is happening already!
