Atlanta News First reported on how Georgia residents are struggling with soaring costs because of high insurance rates and lawsuit abuse. Some of the problems hitting consumers include high auto insurance rates, insurance rates spiking for affordable housing, food deserts, and high-risk hospital units being shut down.
Car insurance premiums have spiked, hurting Army veterans like Donnell Glass:
[Donnell] Glass’ rent has gone up about $800 in the time he’s lived there in a two-bedroom apartment with his elderly father. “The cost of living is skyrocketing,” he said. “If it weren’t for the VA, I would be struggling very bad.” But his car insurance premium is his biggest concern, which has risen about $400 to $2,450 over a six-month period.
Affordable housing owners are also struggling to cover insurance:
[Co-owner of the 445 Cleveland apartment complexes Avi] Wolf knows many residents are in the same position as Glass and worries about the future with even basic insurance per-unit skyrocketing from 2012 to today. “We used to pay about $50 a unit in the insurance space for coverage,” Wolf said. “Today, we’re spending well over $1,500 per unit. We cannot pass that difference on to the resident. That’s not something that they could afford to pay for.”
The high costs of insurance are also causing food deserts in low-income urban areas. Lawsuit abuse has also forced rural hospitals to close high-risk units.
Antonio Lewis, who represents district 12 on the Atlanta City Council, said current laws are not only hurting businesses, but keeping vital resources from the community. “Anybody who knows me, knows how bad that I want a grocery store over here,” Lewis said. “We live in a food desert.” Bringing a grocery store to the community was one of Lewis’ campaign promises. “The only issue right now is not the price of land, it’s the price of insurance,” he said. “That neighborhood has to pay the cost because they have to drive farther, or ride the bus farther, just to get basic groceries,” said John King, Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire commissioner, who added hospitals in such areas are shutting down high-risk units, which puts pressure on premiere hospitals.
“There’s a hospital in north Georgia that did away with their neonatal unit to reduce the cost of insurance,” King said. “They’re still operating, but the cost of running a neonatal unit was pushing the the cost of getting coverage out of control and it couldn’t afford it.” King said people are entitled to damages when suing for injuries if a property owner, business, or driver was negligent, but such cases should never be comparable to “winning the lottery.” “Insurance was created to get you back on your feet, to fix your damage, to fix any injuries that you had,” King said. “It was never made for people to become rich overnight.”