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I've always wondered this about insurance company's business model. How is it fair or legal for them to pass on the increased costs to their customers? Providing insurance is a risk that companies take, for which they get rewarded if there is more inflow of cash (premium) vs outflow (payouts). If they have a bad year where more customers are to be paid out, then how can they increase the premium on everyone, just to ensure that their profits grow or remain same?

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They cannot change the terms of existing insurance contracts. The increased prices will show up on new contracts - either renewal or entirely new properties.

That said, as the article notes:

> There is some skepticism that reinsurance prices can rise enough in the coming year to offset the decline over the last decade. Any changes may also take some time to flow through the industry. In Florida, one state tested by this year’s events, many insurers won’t renew their reinsurance policies until June.

Insurance policies are almost always over some term (even when you pay monthly, it's usually just installment payments on a total premium for a fixed term). During the term the insurance company takes the risk that they have a bad year and pay out more than they take in. But nothing in the policies precludes them from raising the premium the next year when it comes time to renew.

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