© mccready
The inflation-affected consumers in Boston, who are already fighting the burden of high costs of food, fuel, and other basic necessities of life, may also have to face increasing home insurance premiums now. The home insurance rates were generally stable in the state. However, with the natural calamities such as tornadoes through Western and Central Massachusetts, brutal snowstorms, flood damage from Tropical Storm Irene, earthquakes and others, hitting the earth on and off, the insurance companies are witnessing sharp increase in the number of home insurance claims. According to estimates, an insurer called Andover Companies faced losses worth USD 50 million in home insurance last year, which is more than what the company earned on Massachusetts policies in the entire previous decade.
To cope up with these large numbers of reimbursements, the insurance companies are planning to hike the premium rates. Bunker Hill Insurance in Boston is planning to increase it rates by 11.9 percent this year while Andover Companies is planning to raise it by 9.3 percent. Commerce Insurance is planning to increase the rate by 8.5 percent, Safety Insurance by 10 percent, and Holyoke Mutual by 20.3 percent. If this hike in the rates by various insurers is approved by the Government, it would directly impact about 2 million home insurance policy holders.