Wait a minute, we had one of the mildest storm seasons in years.

In other words they are trying to storm-proof their profit margin, at the expense of the buyer.

What a sham. If I remember correctly, Wisconsin has pretty much the same weather that we do, but their average rates are $515 a year compared to ours which is over $900. Something smells fishy

This year my rates more than doubled compared to two years ago. I tired of seeing gasoline, groceries, health insurance, car insurance, etc go up and my hourly wage from a local big box company is shrinking every year comparatively.

Commissioner Rothman gives good advice to all homeowners when he suggests they shop around. There are dozens of companies writing homeowners insurance in the State and the market is competitive. The main factor driving up their losses in recent years is hail damage - we've seen a large increase in widespread big hail storms. Four years ago our home was hit hard by hail and our insurer ended up paying $37,500 for our claim, after a $1,000 deductible. It will take the company quite a few years to "break even" on our home, and that's assuming we don't experience any more large claims during that period. I don't know whether our more extreme weather in Minnesota these past few years is the beginning of a longer term trend or it is just an anomaly. But from our own experience I can understand why the cost of homeowners insurance has gone up.

Insurers are tired of rolling the dice and losing? Yeah, gee, too bad it's not an endless stream of free money 24/7/365. Sometimes you actually have to live up to the promises of your product! What a drag, right?

Rothmann sounds like he's been asleep at the switch, and Minnesota is behind other states in watching out for consumers (again). Maybe this guy isn't the watchdog he should be. Only when the Strib pressed him did he lift a finger. In fact, the article indicates he initially defended the insurance companies! Maybe he's part of the problem and needs to get the heave-ho, Governor Dayton.

Before they start raising premiums, these companies should first take care of exorbitant executive pay (especially those multi-million dollar CEO packages many have). Further, insurers should be forced to justify premium rates to the state and the state give approval. And they should use losses over the last 5-10 year period for the whole state or nationwide (whichever is lower) when justifying any increases in cost of insurance.

Shop around? Is that about the same as shopping around for lower prices on gas? Oh boy, I got it for $3.49 instead of $3.51.... what a deal!!! We switched a few years ago, and it was a bargain, for one year. Then the other shoe fell. To my knowledge, we had a very very mild winter last year, and also, no outbreak of tornadoes or flooding. How about some insurance company $$$ numbers to go along with this article. And finally, the bottom line; what can you do? Complain? Yeah, right.

It's America, the Insurers can offer whatever rates they want and you can take whatever risk you want. I suppose we could fiddle with who is required to carry insurance, but the government bails out folks without it anyhow.