Keeping home insurance available and affordable in our era of climate change and tech tools
Keeping home insurance available and affordable in our era of climate change and tech tools

Generally speaking, home insurance companies are free to pick which homes they want to insure and which they don’t.  There has been an explosion in tech tools that insurance companies can use to assess risks and decide who and what they are willing to insure…
BACH TALK: Crumbling foundation owners in CT await insurance rulings
BACH TALK: Crumbling foundation owners in CT await insurance rulings

So many home foundations are crumbling in the state of Connecticut that the legislature passed a special law sealing their records, in part to protect their ongoing efforts to secure insurance coverage to help cover repairs and prevent collapse, damage and injuries.  The widespread problem…
Hurry up and wait? What to do when your insurer goes “insolvent”.
Hurry up and wait? What to do when your insurer goes “insolvent”.

Disasters strain insurer’s claim-paying capacity in situations where they have alot of customers in the impacted region that all make claims at the same time. The vast majority of insurers have enough money on hand to pay their claims after disasters, thanks to regulations that…
In praise of a policyholder hero – Cal Thur
In praise of a policyholder hero – Cal Thur

Chip Merlin, a policyholder hero himself, alerted me that we’ve recently lost a champion – Cal Thur.  I was introduced to Cal by the late, great Eugene Anderson many moons ago, and he was an important United Policyholders volunteer and supporter. Cal was a highly…
What’s behind your insurer’s brand curtain?
What’s behind your insurer’s brand curtain?

Brand names matter to consumers, and that includes insurance company brands.  Consumers seek out company names they recognize and associate with reliability, especially when insuring a home, which for most people is their biggest asset. As a brand name, Lloyd’s of London is generally very…
UP on panel at joint Senate/Assembly Hearing on Post-Wildfire Insurance Issues
UP on panel at joint Senate/Assembly Hearing on Post-Wildfire Insurance Issues

On Tuesday, October 30th, 2018 UP Executive Director Amy Bach will be on the speaker panel at a joint public hearing at Napa Valley College convened by the California Senate and Insurance Committees to examine root causes and potential solutions for solving the post-wildfire underinsurance…
Climate change and tech innovation: An imperative for the insurance industry to adapt responsibly
Climate change and tech innovation: An imperative for the insurance industry to adapt responsibly

There is no shortage of opinions and predictions about how climate change and the tech explosion will reshape the insurance landscape as we know it.  Here are just a few of the predictions we’re hearing: “Insurance deserts will proliferate” (regions where people and businesses can’t…
How claims SHOULD be handled
How claims SHOULD be handled

Although this is an insurance company advertisement, and the policyholder is clearly reading from a script presumably written by the insurance company, it highlights how claims should be handled, and how they shouldn’t.  We at UP fully recognize that catastrophe claims put strains on insurance company resources, and…
CA legislature enacts helpful insurance reforms
CA legislature enacts helpful insurance reforms

The California legislature, after hard work by North Bay lawmakers, the Department of Insurance, concerned citizens, and United Policyholders enacted several useful insurance-related bills this session that are awaiting the Governor’s signature. Although retroactivity provisions were removed, (which means victims of the 2017 wildfires can only use them indirectly as…
Slow as molasses in January? MS residents deserve insurance fairness
Slow as molasses in January? MS residents deserve insurance fairness

After Hurricane Katrina decimated communities in his home state of Mississippi, concerned citizen Kevin Buckel was outraged to learn that the average insurance payout to the victims was only $15,000 – far below what people needed to repair, rebuild and recover.  He looked around at…
UP to FEMA – Please extend Harvey and Irma deadlines
UP to FEMA – Please extend Harvey and Irma deadlines

On August 22, 2018, United Policyholders asked the top brass at FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program to give hurricane-impacted residents until the end of this year to fully document their 2017 Harvey and Irma damage claims and collect all flood insurance benefits owed…
Below the law, below the belt
Below the law, below the belt

Liability insurance is considered such an essential protection in our society that anyone who drives is required by law to buy it in every state except New Hampshire. Renters and homeowners buy it. Businesses buy it. Why? Because accidents happen, people get hurt, property gets…
Hawaii Big Island UPdate
Hawaii Big Island UPdate

SPECIAL ALERT FOR PUNA RESIDENTS: Organizations to host insurance forum for residents affected by lava flows PUNA, HAWAII (HawaiiNewsNow) – As the number of homes lost to lava since eruptions began climbs to 87, many lower Puna residents are uncertain about what — if anything — they’ll have to…
Improve disaster recovery through insurance reform
Improve disaster recovery through insurance reform

Insurance funds can and should fuel an individual’s or business’s ability to repair, rebuild, and regain financial health after a disaster. But as our surveys show, these funds don’t always flow as they should. Overly detailed proof requirements, bureaucratic delays, confusing depreciation, and unreasonably short…
UPdate on remedies for UNDERINSURED CA disaster survivors
UPdate on remedies for UNDERINSURED CA disaster survivors

Wildfire survivors in regions throughout California are using UP’s guidance on how to remedy the fact that they are grossly underinsured.  Upon learning that assurances they’d gotten and relied upon from insurers, agents, and brokers that their homes were adequately insured were untrue – these…
While Congress kicks it down the road, FEMA implements it’s own NFIP reforms
While Congress kicks it down the road, FEMA implements it’s own NFIP reforms

Congress has again reauthorized, not reformed the National Flood Insurance Program in another in a series of short-term extensions that began in September, 2017 when the program expired. FEMA instituted some reforms of it’s own via the agency notice/rulemaking process and will be accepting public…
Bach Talk: Impressive stats on the value of investing in mitigation
Bach Talk: Impressive stats on the value of investing in mitigation

According to recently released findings of the National Institute of Building Science, 23 years of federal mitigation grants provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Economic Development Administration (EDA) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), resulted in a national benefit of $6 for every $1…
Post wildfire flooding and insurance? Forecast muddy
Post wildfire flooding and insurance? Forecast muddy

A wildfire destroys the trees, plants, bushes, and roots that hold soil in place and soak up rainwater, which in turn can lead to the kind of damage that occurred in Montecito in the aftermath of the Thomas Fire.  The “Fire-Flood Sequence” is a well-known phenomenon,…