The Impact Of Home Insurance Regulations For Oregon Residences

In Oregon, the most important piece of legislation relating to home insurance coverage is the "homeowners bill of rights" passed in 2005. It sets out limitations on what information insurance companies can use to deny coverage, and how a claim is defined. The aim of this legislation was to help the citizens of Oregon obtain reasonable rates for their insurance premiums while still maintaining adequate levels of coverage. This has been a success - Oregon has a state-wide average of $496 per year for homeowners insurance, as compared to the $822 national average.

The issuance of home insurance policies is Oregon is not excessively scrutinized by the state. Every policy will be broken into two sections - "Part One" will cover all property, including the home itself and its contents and "Part Two" will cover liability. This liability is for a circumstance in which someone is injured on the owner's property and will cover an initial payout to that person. It may also cover ongoing medical expenses. Every homeowner will have the option to add coverage to their policy as they so desire, for example "umbrella" coverage which will provide coverage in excess of the basic liability protection.

While the state of Oregon gives insurers a fair amount of leeway in terms of what can be offered in their policies, the government has codified law to prevent companies from taking advantage of consumers and from failing to pay out in the event that the insurance company becomes insolvent. The Oregon Insurance Guaranty Association (OIGA) was created under state law and is a conglomerate of insurance companies. This association will act if a homeowner's insurance provider goes bankrupt and cannot pay out the claim owing. OIGA will pay the same amount as would have been paid by the initial insurer.

Oregon law also includes the "homeowners bill of rights", as mentioned above. This is an effort to prevent insurance companies from unfairly penalizing consumers. Included in the bill are provisions that prevent insurers from looking back on a client's entire home insurance claim history, instead limiting them to a period of five years. Similarly, insurance companies are not allowed to cancel or not renew a policy in the first five years because of a single claim made against it. As well, homeowners are protected if they wish to make inquires about their insurance policy while deciding whether or not to file a claim. Prior to this legislation being enacted, some insurance companies would treat any inquiry by clients as a claim, with the same penalties and premium increases which that would entail. While Oregon does not strictly regulate insurance types, its general legislation seeks to aid homeowners in their dealing with insurance companies.

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