December 8, 2024 Putting Florida more in line with national practices Stacey Clark walks around her Bethel Creek home with her dog Sweetie on Oct. 15 after a tornado tore through her home Oct. 9 before Hurricane Milton passed through the area. Clark was in her home with Sweetie when the tornado ripped her roof off.…
December 5, 2024 The other ‘mean season’ begins as insurers tally losses, decide whether premium hikes needed In mid-November, more than a month after Hurricane Milton’s Florida landfall rendered her Zephyrhills home uninhabitable, Jessica Fernandez was still wondering how her life could be returned to anything like it was before Mother Nature’s fury descended from the skies. She filed insurance claims the…
October 5, 2024 Hit by Disaster? How to Get What You Deserve From Insurers or FEMA If your home was damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Helene, the most daunting challenge may still be ahead: Getting your insurance company, or the federal government, to give you the money you’re entitled to receive. That process can be infuriating and baffling, and it comes…
October 2, 2024 Hurricane Helene Recovery Help If you or someone you know have been impacted by Hurricane Helene, review our road-tested “First Steps” and visit our Hurricane Helene Roadmap to Recovery Help Library. United Policyholders is a non-profit organization that has thirty years of expertise in disaster recovery, insurance, repairs and…
October 2, 2024 Think flood insurance is pricey now? Premium hikes were coming long before Hurricane Helene. Homeowners insurance typically does not cover flood damage – though too many people discover that after the fact, consumer advocates say Hurricane Helene inundated parts of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas, and now the estimated billions of dollars in damage are bringing Americans’ receding…
October 1, 2024 Hurricane Helene brings more losses to struggling insurance market, but no major turmoil expected Hurricane Helene caused the type of widespread destruction that has roiled the U.S. insurance market in recent years, pushing premiums for property insurance in the most vulnerable states, including Louisiana… Read more
September 29, 2024 How Hurricane Helene could have widespread consequences for homeowners When Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida on Thursday night, it made landfall in the state’s sparsely populated Big Bend, far from the glittering cities with expensive waterfront property to the south. But that didn’t stop Helene from becoming another multibillion-dollar superstorm. The hurricane’s massive size…
September 13, 2024 Many people don’t realize their home insurance doesn’t cover flooding Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana Wednesday night and has been dropping huge amounts of rain across much of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It’s now a tropical depression and is headed north into Tennessee. Some 14 million people have been under flood watches from…
August 13, 2024 Climate damage claims impacting mortgages and insurance consumers The application of AI to weather disaster coverage and claims is creating problems for mortgage lenders, not just claimants, according to policyholder advocates who addressed the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) at its summer conference August 12. Read more.
August 12, 2024 Home damaged by Tropical Storm Debby? Here are helpful tips for claiming insurance payout It’s a long way from the paths of destruction carved out by such historic weather events as Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina, but Tropical Storm Debby, which cut through central Pennsylvania this past weekend, left a path of destruction with plenty of damaged roofs and…
August 1, 2024 Guest Blog: Navigating My Safe Florida Home Program I noticed my neighbor had just replaced her windows and not only did they look nice, but also strong. To my surprise she told me she had been motivated to make the changes due to a State Program that reimbursed her for two thirds of…
July 14, 2024 Louisiana’s ‘business-friendly’ climate response: Canceled home insurance plans Under a new state law, residents will no longer be protected from homeowners’ policy cancellations, higher deductibles or big rate increases. Louisiana homeowners will no longer have the assurance of holding onto their longtime property insurance policies after a damaging storm. And they could start…
July 5, 2024 United Policyholders available for hurricane recovery information Hurricane recovery and insurance questions? Road map to recovery help is available Tuesday, July 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Greater Pine Island Alliance office at 10484 Stringfellow Road, Suite 2, St. James City. For additional information, contact Julitza Perez @ julitza@uphelp.org…
June 26, 2024 GPIA gives update on island’s recovery Representatives of United Policyholders attend meeting, provide information to assist islanders Last Tuesday, June 18, the Greater Pine Island Alliance providing an update on the island’s recovery during its monthly meeting at the Pine Island Community Church where guest speakers from United Policyholders were asked…
June 23, 2024 As homeowner’s insurance prices climb, more Americans ask: Is it worth it? It was 2019 when Anjali Tierra decided that homeowners insurance wasn’t worth the price. The retired high school teacher, 58, took out a policy in late 2018 after purchasing a three-bedroom home nestled in the Tehachapi Mountains of southern California. She considered the insurance affordable…
May 30, 2024 More insurance companies using drones to inspect homes, evaluate storm damage More insurance companies are using drones to survey storm damage and whether to write or renew homeowner’s insurance policies. But some consumer advocates say it can unfairly put a homeowner’s coverage at risk. More insurance companies are using drones to survey storm damage and whether…
May 6, 2024 Small insurers are growing in Louisiana. Will more go insolvent after the next big storm? The dozen insurers that failed after two busy hurricane seasons left hundreds of thousands of Louisiana homeowners scrambling for new insurance policies at a time when premiums were soaring. A review of new state market share data and financial filings shows the void left by…
April 24, 2024 Insurers Are Deserting Homeowners After Natural Disasters As increasingly severe natural disasters ravage the South, insurance companies are abandoning clients, increasing premiums, and fighting regulation measures — forcing homeowners to fend for themselves in the wake of destruction. As Hurricane Ida approached New Orleans on a sticky August morning in 2021, Janet…
