Like A Bad Neighbor - The Texas Observer

Like A Bad Neighbor - The Texas Observer: "Like A Bad Neighbor
In Texas, State Farm does what State Farm wants--and consumers pay the price
by Saul Elbein
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Published on: Thursday, June 17, 2010

photo by Matt Wright-Steel
THIS SPRING, TEXAS’ BIGGEST INSURANCE company took the unusual step of trying to hike homeowner’s insurance rates for the second time in eight months. The first increase had come in September 2009, when State Farm Lloyds Inc.—a division of the giant insurer that handles the most residential policies in Texas—jacked its monthly premiums by 8.8 percent. Then in April the company, which controls nearly 30 percent of the market, informed the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) it planned to raise rates again, this time by 4.5 percent."