Tropical storm Bullcrap

My homeowner's insurance comes due every spring. If I were to take the increases in recent years and project them backward, I would conclude that my parents must have been paying annual premiums of thirteen dollars in 1976.

What's driving the surge? Increasing property values and construction costs must factor in of course, but otherwise, who are the people that are racking up billions in insured losses that the rest of us are covering? And how am I in any way associated with their risk pool? If I had my own insurance company, here would be my top questions for a prospective policyholder:

Do you live in an area where storms are given names?
Do you live on a floodplain, or less than ten feet above sea level?
Do you live within 30 miles of an intersection between tectonic plates?
Is your county on fire, or has it been on fire in the last 24 months?

As a corollary on the last one, one could ask "When it actually rains three inches in your state, is it national news?" And it should go without saying that if you can actually see an active volcano from any point on your property, my office won't be taking your calls.

Anyway, it seems to me that when a homeowner can answer "no" to all the questions above, he shouldn't have to put up with fifteen percent annual increases in his insurance premiums.