Prof. Daniel Schwarcz’s Proposal for Obamacare-Style Homeowners Insurance Described in New York Times

On Friday, Professor Daniel Schwarcz, Fredrikson & Byron Professor of Law and Distinguished University Teaching Professor, proposed a federally administrated marketplace for homeowners insurance: “Fixing America’s Broken Insurance Markets In A Time Of Climate Change” and modeled after the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The proposal was described in the New York Times in light of hurricanes Helene and Milton causing billions of dollars in economic losses. Prof. Schwarcz said of the current insurance situation, “Over the last decade, homeowners insurance markets nationwide have experienced unprecedented instability due to climate change. These disruptions, which are likely to accelerate in the coming years, risk destabilizing real estate markets, triggering financial instability, and undermining the nation’s resilience to climate change. Despite these massive stakes, federal and state reforms to date have largely failed to result in more accessible and affordable homeowners insurance coverage that promotes climate change resilience.” Saying the current homeowners insurance markets resemble the health insurance markets prior to the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, Prof. Schwarcz described Obamacare as an initial template for reforming homeowners insurance markets. “Obamacare ultimately offers a powerful and underappreciated model for ensuring that homeowners insurance markets equitably promote climate change resilience in the decades to come.”