Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
Neither New York nor California understands that companies won’t sell products for a loss…
Hoot of the Day
My hoot of the day is AT&T Is Stopping Its 5G Internet Air Service in NY Because of New Broadband Law
A new broadband law is going into effect this week in New York state requiring internet provider to offer low-income residents access to monthly broadband rates of $15 for 25Mbps or $20 for 200Mbps. As a response, AT&T has decided that it no longer plans to offer its 5G home internet in the Empire State and will begin notifying users about the decision on Wednesday.
“While we are committed to providing reliable and affordable internet service to customers across the country, New York’s broadband law imposes harmful rate regulations that make it uneconomical for AT&T to invest in and expand our broadband infrastructure in the state,” the company said in a statement provided to CNET.
“As a result, effective Jan. 15, 2025, we will no longer be able to offer AT&T Internet Air, our fixed-wireless internet service, to New York customers.”
New York first passed its broadband law back in 2021, with an appeals court allowing it to move forward last April after legal challenges looked to thwart it. The US Supreme Court decided in December that it wouldn’t hear challenges to the new law.
Lessons from California and New York
In New York, 5G service is now so affordable that you can’t get service at all.
That’s a minor nuisance compared to California, where policy mandates by Governor Newsom led to cancelled policies.
CBS News reports Thousands of Los Angeles homeowners were dropped by their insurers before the Palisades Fire
About 1,600 policies in Pacific Palisades were dropped by State Farm in July, California Department of Insurance spokesman Michael Soller said in an Thursday email to CBS MoneyWatch. An analysis of insurance data by CBS News San Francisco last year found that State Farm also dropped more than 2,000 policies in two other Los Angeles ZIP codes, which include the Brentwood, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Monte Nido neighborhoods.
State Farm’s decision reflects a trend of private insurers, including Allstate and Farmers Insurance, of dropping California policies or halting underwriting, leaving homeowners with the choice of getting coverage through the insurer of last resort, the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, or FAIR Plan, or forgo insurance altogether. The FAIR Plan provides basic fire insurance coverage for properties in high-risk areas when traditional insurance companies will not.
Seems to me that State Farm, Allstate, and Farmers did their homework.
California would not let State Farm price for risk, so the companies decided not to renew policies.
Not content with already disastrous stupidity, a new regulation mandates Business
Insurance Companies in California Must Offer Coverage in Wildfire-Prone Areas.
Insurance companies will be legally required to write policies in those areas “equivalent to no less than 85% of their statewide market share.” Coverage won’t increase to that threshold immediately. Instead, companies will be given a requirement of a 5% increase every two years.
Every insurer in California should leave the state unless they can price according to risk.
Even if the insurers stay, understand they will have to overprice elsewhere if they underprice fire prone areas.
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Read the full article here