It’s up everywhere, because everything is more expensive including labor. Some costs may come down if housing market slows a bit more and cost of supplies and labor has less demand.
I’m not generally a fan of regulation but some things we as a people might be better off with collective bargaining. I hear in Florida that the state fund is now the primary insurer because not many independent insurers want to do business in the state. The risk is high as one bad hurricane could hit them with ten billion in damages at a time. So, why not have a Florida only insurance company? All Floridians contribute and “force” by collective bargaining a maximum profit they can make - keep administration costs down. Maybe even make it a charity, so there is no profit. They have to keep large reserves yes, but they don’t have shareholders to pay out. They just need adjusters and actuaries. Just a thought. Needs flushing out. Or heck Freepers can reject it out of hand.
Don’t some states do this with auto insurance? Or at least it was proposed. Put a tax on gasoline and that’s the insurance premium. No fault insurance. No major payouts for “pain and suffering” just legitimate lost wages and repair costs. Lawyers won’t like it. And another thing - with Obamacare, most everyone has health insurance. So why do we also need to pay premiums for injury in a car, slip and fall liability, or worker’s comp insurance too? its all healthcare. Why have 5 different types of insurance for health care coverage? If you have health insurance it should cover any injury. That would drive a lot of efficiency and lower costs of insurance and for business liability too.
The idea is interesting.
One problem with state run enterprises these days is that they seem unable to invest funds without making corrupt deals with “investment advisors”, “consultants” or “investment fund managers”.
I do not how to solve that problem in an age where crooks are running wild.
An insurance fund would (hopefully) have big bucks in reserves—a very tempting target.