Farm Bureau gets OK to Hike Homeowners Rates in La.

Roughly 70,000 homeowners in areas hard hit by Hurricane Rita will face insurance hikes of 49 percent that were approved by Louisiana state regulators.

The increase affects Louisiana Farm Bureau policyholders. The increase will allow the company to raise $30.6 billion to offset the rising cost of the reinsurance Farm Bureau buys as its own insurance coverage against future losses, said Chad Brown, chairman of the Louisiana Insurance Rating Commission.

Of those 70,000 homeowners, about 7,000 will also lose the part of their coverage protecting against losses due to wind and hail damage. Homeowners with such policies will need to begin buying that coverage from another company, Brown said.

The insurance commission also approved another Farm Bureau request, affecting 6,151 homeowners, for a nearly 48 percent increase on its standard fire policies. Farm Bureau will draw $1.4 million from that increase, said Amy Whittington, a spokeswoman for the state insurance department.

Fireman’s Fund won approval for a 19 percent hike on its roughly 4,000 policyholders, mainly in New Orleans and Jefferson parish. The company will draw $2.76 million from the increase, she said.