Massachusetts Attorney General Faults Homeowners’ Insurers’ Rate Increases

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says two of the state’s largest homeowners’ insurance companies won excessive and unwarranted rate increases of about 9 percent by taking advantage of last winter’s record snowfall.

The Boston Globe reports that Healey’s office found that rate filings from Mapfre USA Corp. and Safety Insurance Co. put too much emphasis on recent storms, ignoring longer-term trends that are traditionally used to calculate rates. Healey says the companies also requested rates to meet higher profit targets.

Both companies recently implemented average increases of about $100 on the average state premium of $1,150. Healey’s analysis showed that Mapfre should have actually lowered rates this year while Safety’s increase should not have exceeded 3 percent.

Mapfre declined to comment. Safety did not return calls for comment.