FIRST WATCH: STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW / From the desk of Ted Streuli
On Friday, the second installment of J.C. Hallman’s dive into the world of homeowners insurance competition was published (at Oklahoma Watch). It does a great job of explaining how competition is calculated.
Here’s why you should care. If you own a house in Oklahoma, you’re paying some of the highest property insurance rates in the country. And if you ask just about anyone aligned with the insurance industry, they’ll tell you it’s because of the hail. Or maybe inflation. Or because insurance companies can’t make any money in Oklahoma, even though the state’s largest home insurer, State Farm, reported 2024 earnings of $5.3 billion before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
Thanks to a very, very industry-favorable law (the kind of thing politicians like to call businessfriendly), only the insurance commissioner can challenge rate hikes, and he can only do that when the state is declared noncompetitive.
Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready has often defended Oklahoma’s astronomical rates by saying he can’t challenge them because there’s plenty of competition in Oklahoma and the free market controls prices.
In Friday’s piece, Hallman examined the metrics available to measure market competitiveness, which Mulready chooses, and how those calculations work out (Spoiler Alert: It’s not in favor of Oklahoma homeowners).
That’s a beach read for an economist. If that doesn’t describe you, but if you pay a homeowners insurance premium in Oklahoma, you should read it anyway.
You’ll come away knowing why it costs more to insure a house in Thackerville than it costs to insure one just across the river in Gainesville, Texas.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Hallman’s story can be found at https://oklahomawatch.org/2025/11/21/potential-oligopoly-adeep- dive-into-competition-in-homeowners-insurance/. Ted Streuli’s First Watch: Stuff You Should Know can be subscribed to by going online to https://oklahomawatch.org/first-watch/.)
