Raleigh crowd takes one more swing at Insurance commissioner Mike Causey

With all the boo-hooing and belly-aching over Mark Robinson, folks seem to be overlooking the years-long effort by The N&O and Jones Street’s Berger Mafia™ to beat down and run off our first GOP Insurance commissioner —I think — in forever.

What got all this started?  Somebody tried to bribe Causey in 2018.  He went to the FBI and wore a wire to help make the bust.  The probe led to charges for then-NCGOP chairman Robin Hayes and embarrassment for a lot of GOP brahmins in Raleigh.  Causey demonstrated he was not a “team-player”.  Therefore, the hit was on.  (*Snitches get stitches.  In the prison yard and in state government.*)

Efforts — originating from corner offices on the state Senate side of Jones Street — were made to toy with the Department of Insurance’s office space, budgeting, and staffing.

As Causey’s 2024 reelection got closer, The N&O kicked in with unflattering stories on Causey. There were some poorly-contrived stories about alleged cronyism by Causey.  Just the other day, we got treated to what — I think — has to be the third story from Democrats about Causey supposedly and single-handedly jacking up homeowner insurance rates.

I explained how rates get decided to readers back in January when The N&O last tried this hit on Causey:

[…] The North Carolina Rate Bureau (NCRB) has been a fixture in North Carolina business and government since it was created by the NC General Assembly in 1977.  Any insurance company eligible to do business in North Carolina must join it.  The NCRB acts as a unified voice for the insurance industry in the state.  It is not a state agency.  Causey does not supervise it.

I spoke with someone well-versed in the state’s insurance game.  If the NCRB wants a rate increase, it produces what is called a “rate filing.”  The group makes its case to the Department of Insurance on why it feels the need to raise rates.  (The last time this was done, before this year, was 2020.) 

Once the rate filing is done, a public comment period is triggered.  Anyone who wants to speak up about a proposal to raise rates can do so in writing or in person.  THAT is what is happening now.

After the public comment period ends, the insurance commissioner and his team, and the NCRB folks go to their separate corners to prepare for negotiations — sort of a mediation process.

My source compares this mediation — these negotiations – to what happens so often on car lots across the state:

“You walk onto a lot and see a car you like.  There’s a sticker on the window with a figure on it. You know, and the salesman who walks up on you does too, that the number on the sticker will not be the agreed-on sale price. It’s a starting point. There are negotiations on what that final number will be.”

My source tells me that – if neither side can come to an agreement – there is a legally-binding court proceeding that they can both enter into.  The court proceeding is often not seen as a viable, preferable option for the NCRB and its members.  These processes are often very lengthy and very expensive. 

My source tells me the court option often provides enough leverage to force a negotiated agreement.

At the heart of homeowner insurance is the premise of rebuilding one’s home following a disaster.  In the current economic climate,  building materials are seeing dramatic price increases.  It would likely be much more expensive to repair or rebuild your home in 2024 than it would have been in, say, 2022 or 2021. 

My source predicts that, if there is any increase, it will likely be felt most along the hurricane-prone coast. Living out there, you have a tradeoff of a pretty view in exchange for the risk of your house being flattened by the next storm.

My source, a veteran of many years in the insurance game, predicts that the result of this will be nowhere near the 400 percent or 200 percent being bandied around on the Internet.  Nor will it be anywhere near the “average of 42 percent” in the NCRB proposal:

“Causey has been here before. He’s been tough in these situations, as have many of his predecessors. In the past, the rate bureau has gotten a lot less than what they came in asking for. And that will be how it plays out again.  And they know it.”

In other words, Causey has been following standard operating procedure – in place for nearly 50 years — on the question of insurance rates.

With Dale Folwell riding off into the sunset in December, we’re really short on folks in leadership roles willing to stand up to the corruption infesting our state government and capital city. Mike Causey has shown a devotion to public service and integrity. That stuff’s in short supply in Raleigh.  We don’t need to make the mistake of listening to charlatans and tossing out someone who actually puts us ahead of politics and self-interest.