ALE, Food replacement and Industrial Hygienist for Smoke/ash/ heat damaged home Joy Zajdzinski asked 7 days ago
ALE, Food replacement and Industrial Hygienist for Smoke/ash/ heat damaged home

I have been given an ALE worksheet. I have added line items that I think will now be an issue due to being out of the house and out of the community and support system.

Do I fill out a new ALE worksheet each month or do they only approve a flat amount? I am very confused by. the sheet mainly because the insurance only thought I would be out one month but, of course, it will be longer.

Also, the ALE worksheet has a line item for eating in/ groceries. I answered this amount but now I am being told by agent that they restock our fridge once and then declare us whole. Is that a common practice? Or could they be in error and be referring to restocking the fridge food that was lost?

What is the order of things? Insurance will not pay for environmental testing pre-cleaning but I feel like I need to have this done pre-remediation. Should I allow insurance remediation company to come and make their estimate first or should I get my hygienist in first?

1 Answers
Answer for ALE, Food replacement and Industrial Hygienist for Smoke/ash/ heat damaged home Alexis Ricci Staff answered 2 days ago
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Hi Joy,

Your policy typically will cover Additional Living Expenses (ALE), those expenses you incur to maintain your household’s typical standard of living, above and beyond your typical expense. Often, you need to incur these expenses and submit them to the carrier for reimbursement and most people submit these either monthly or quarterly. For example, if your family spends approximately $400/week for food (groceries, coffee orders, dining out, etc) and you now spend $650 for the same period of time/meals, then your ALE coverage would afford a reimbursement of $250.

If you have lost the contents of your fridge and pantry due to the fire, the carrier should continue to pay for your ALE related to food costs until the carrier can evaluate and settle this portion of your claim, provided you coordinate with this claim process and provide the carrier with this lost inventory as quickly as possible. At that time, you have been ‘made whole’ and should not incur any ALE related to food costs.

You can review UP’s resources on ALE here:

https://uphelp.org/claim-guidance-publications/survivors-speak-additional-living-expense-ale-loss-of-use/

https://uphelp.org/claim-guidance-publications/sample-letter-requesting-information-about-insurance-benefits-for-temporary-living-expenses-ale-or-loss-of-use/

We recommend that you review the following resource for guidance through the claim process and recovery;

https://uphelp.org/disaster-recovery-help/2025cawildfires/

Best, UP Staff