According to the Insurance Information Institute, with the hurricane season just round the corner, insurance is either getting pricier or harder to get for most of the homeowners. Countrywide, homeowners' insurance premiums have increased nearly three percent, and even more in coastal areas where the probability of damage due to hurricane is high.

The rise in premiums and coverage changes have resulted not only from amendments in state regulations, but also from other factors - like the monstrous $26 billion pay out by insurers on calamitous losses last year, and the effect of the financial market mayhem on the earnings of the companies.

As such, with most insurers endeavoring to restrict their coverage in high-risk areas as well as their vulnerability to potential losses, an increasing number of homeowners from New York to Florida and in the Gulf Coast region are being left out completely by their carriers.

Going by the statistics, the year 2007 had Florida - the state with the greatest hurricane exposure - facing a probable $2.46 trillion in losses; New York faced $2.38 trillion; and Texas faced $895.1 billion of exposure.

About the pricier hurricane insurance, Bob Hartwig - President of the Insurance Information Institute - said: "Over the last five years, where we've seen record catastrophe losses in coastal areas, the increases in premiums have outstripped what we have seen nationally."