March 6, 2024 Catch UP on Insurance for Repairing Flood Damage with David Maurstad In this Catch UP segment, Amy Bach talks to David Maurstad about Flood Insurance. David Maurstad is FEMA’s Assistant Administrator of Federal Insurance Directorate and Senior Executive of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
February 5, 2024 Bach Talk: An insured future depends on bold public/private innovation By Amy Bach, Executive Director, United Policyholders So far 2024 has brought more bad news for property owners, public officials, lenders and home builders on the insurance availability and affordability fronts with non-renewals, scant options and high premiums. Front page news across the country. Rate…
January 25, 2024 Increase your resiliency in the new year… If you own a home, we suggest putting “make risk reduction improvements” on your New Year’s resolution list. Taking steps to make it less likely that severe weather or a wildfire will damage your home is more important than ever. Insurers have added new coverage…
December 14, 2023 Buying a house? Want to know if it floods? It might be hard to find out. Two weeks after Pam Sidman and her family moved into their new condo in Brooklyn in September, New York City got historic, torrential rain. That morning, her wife, Kelly, looked out their bedroom window into the yard and noticed water backing up by their son’s…
October 9, 2023 Is the lack of flood insurance coverage the next coverage crisis for California? Thousands of homes may be at risk of flooding, but few are covered against this type of catastrophe. Though we tend to think of wildfires as the main risk to property owners in California, climate change and a majority of homes without flood insurance could…
October 4, 2023 Could flooding fuel CA’s next insurance crisis? What data shows for thousands of Bay Area homes Climate change is predicted to drive increasing sea level rise across the country in the coming decades — and thousands of families in the Bay Area are unprepared for the flooding impacts. The ABC7 data journalism team analyzed data from the First Street Foundation, a…
October 4, 2023 Flooding and water resources for Southern California Want to know what the flood risk is in your area or how to protect your home during a storm? Check out the resources below. Want to know what the flood risk is in your area? What about how to protect your home and family…
September 29, 2023 What New York homeowners and renters should know about flood insurance. Standard homeowners’ and renters’ policies don’t cover damages that can be caused by the kind of heavy rains that hit New York City on Friday. It’s an unfortunate fact: Standard homeowners’ and renters’ insurance policies don’t cover damages caused by flooding. People who live in…
June 29, 2023 What’s the RX for home insurance headaches? Rising home insurance prices and shrinking availability have made headlines across the nation in recent weeks, but the situation is not news to UP. It has been developing regionally for years, and we’ve been contributing to solutions through multiple advocacy and consumer help workstreams. The…
June 20, 2023 BACH TALK: Consumers need help (with shrinking property insurance affordability and availability) Americans today in hurricane, flood and wildfire prone regions (particularly in areas where there have been recent disasters) are paying much higher premiums and having a very hard time finding affordable property insurance options. This is a national phenomenon that United Policyholders has been helping…
May 19, 2023 The sun is shining and the snowpack is melting Wow, that was a wet winter. Now that spring is here, snowpack is melting and hurricane season is right around the corner. Whether you’re a renter or a property owner, take a moment to consider adding flood insurance to your financial safety net. Bottom line:…
January 31, 2023 Winter storm recovery and insurance: Baby, it’s cold… Collecting insurance funds to pay for damage from heavy rains and localized flooding can be tricky. Insurers have been excluding floods in standard home policies since the 1960s, but the cost of repairing damage from water intrusion due to wind-driven rain, fallen trees, flying debris,…
January 20, 2023 Video: Why few California homeowners have flood insurance Something doesn’t compute. Some 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow has fallen in California since Christmas. Yet, only about 2% of properties are covered against flooding, according to the Associated Press. Thats means only 230,000 homes and other buildings have flood insurance policies, which…
January 11, 2023 FEMA can help California communities recover under the Stafford Act When disaster hits, FEMA can help communities recover under the Stafford Act (Disasterassistance.gov). If a Disaster Declaration is issued, it can be either a Emergency Declaration (to supplement state, local, and tribal government efforts to provide debris removal and emergency protective measures or to lessen/avert…
October 12, 2021 What Consumers Should Do to Get Fair Claims Payments in the Wake of Hurricane Ida Washington, D.C. — The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) today warned consumers to prepare to file claims for damage resulting from Hurricane Ida and offered tips on “how to get all you are entitled to from your insurance company.” CFA believes that Hurricane Ida will produce…
October 4, 2021 Flood insurance revamp aims for fairer rates A revamped U.S. flood insurance program going into effect this month will charge rates the federal government says better reflect a home’s risk, a change that could mean higher premiums for coastal mansions and — for the first time — reduced rates for others. The…
September 28, 2021 Why doesn’t homeowners insurance cover flood damage? The remnants of Hurricane Nicholas are drenching Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana — including areas that have barely started recovering from Hurricane Ida. There has been a lot of flooding over the past couple of weeks from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast, and many homeowners…
June 24, 2021 This One Common Insurance Mistake Could Cost You Thousands, Experts Warn REMEDY IT IMMEDIATELY TO KEEP THIS COSTLY ERROR FROM DRAINING YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. Across the U.S., there have been snowstorms in May and heatwaves in November, making it clear that the weather is getting harder and harder to plan for. When unpredictable weather strikes, having insurance can help protect…