California tries for a different path than Florida on insurance
California tries for a different path than Florida on insurance

State officials trying to figure out how to stem the exodus of property insurers from wildfire-prone areas are looking with trepidation at hurricane-ravaged Florida. Floridians are furious at their elected officials for allowing sky-high insurance premiums driven by catastrophic storms. California’s leaders are eager to…
Fire insurance topic of PV Fire Safe Council meeting
Fire insurance topic of PV Fire Safe Council meeting

Joel Laucher, preparedness advocate for United Policyholders, will talk about “Keeping Your Home Protected When Insurance Options Are Limited – and Expensive” at the Pleasants Valley Fire Safe Council meeting on Monday. An item on being safer from wildfires is also on the agenda. The…
California insurers lobby for sweeping changes to state law in ‘secret’ meetings
California insurers lobby for sweeping changes to state law in ‘secret’ meetings

Insurers are reportedly engaged in negotiations with the California insurance commissioner and state legislators, seeking significant revisions to the state’s insurance laws before the conclusion of the legislative year. Consumer Watchdog, a longtime consumer advocacy group, said insurers are working on a secret plan to…
A Wildfire Sheds Light: Mutual Aid Is Everyone’s Future
A Wildfire Sheds Light: Mutual Aid Is Everyone’s Future

Will We Change or Will We Burn? Everywhere in the US decades of public funding cuts are a fact of life. At present, governmental sources of crisis support, though they are crucial, are unlikely to ever be sufficient. Community-built systems of mutual aid may, as…
Florida’s insurance industry is in flux as Idalia cleanup begins
Florida’s insurance industry is in flux as Idalia cleanup begins

Homeowners face uncertainty amid the upheaval that has emerged in Florida’s insurance industry in recent years. As cleanup begins in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, the storm has served as a stark reminder that Florida’s insurance industry remains in flux. Idalia made landfall in Florida’s…
Secret in-flight recording sparks rage over possible wildfire insurance ‘bailout’
Secret in-flight recording sparks rage over possible wildfire insurance ‘bailout’

A conversation with a lobbyist secretly recorded on an airplane is shedding light on discussions of possible wildfire insurance legislation that consumer advocates are worried will be pushed through the Legislature in the final two weeks of the session. “We are trying to jam a…
Insurance Crisis: Another Major Home Insurer To Limit Business in California
Insurance Crisis: Another Major Home Insurer To Limit Business in California

Another major insurance company plans to impose new restrictions on its homeowners business in California, potentially worsening the state’s growing insurance woes and making it more difficult for homeowners and buyers to cover their residences. United Services Automobile Association—more commonly known as USAA—will sharply increase…
DeSantis’ New Insurance Law Could Make It Harder to Rebuild After Hurricane Idalia
DeSantis’ New Insurance Law Could Make It Harder to Rebuild After Hurricane Idalia

The legislation makes it difficult to sue insurance companies for short-changing policyholders. Hurricane Idalia struck Florida 190 miles north of Tampa on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, a classification that causes “devastating” damage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. With 125-mile-per-hour winds…
Inside the rising costs of homeowners insurance policies in California
Inside the rising costs of homeowners insurance policies in California

An ABC10 viewer in Auburn said her insurance premium costs have gone up from just under $2,500 to more than $10,000. The rise in home insurance costs, especially in high fire risk areas, have left many frustrated and confused. Those feelings come as some big…
More Americans are going without homeowners insurance. That could spell trouble.
More Americans are going without homeowners insurance. That could spell trouble.

Hurricane Idalia intensified Tuesday as it approached the Gulf Coast of Florida. Given that, recent reporting in The Wall Street Journal caught our eye. Its headline: “Americans Are Bailing on Their Home Insurance.” The Journal reported that some 12% of homeowners are choosing not to…
Americans Are Bailing on Their Home Insurance
Americans Are Bailing on Their Home Insurance

Homeowners are increasingly forgoing home insurance, gambling that the likelihood of a disaster isn’t high enough to justify the cost of a policy Some skipping insurance say they are doing so because they can no longer afford the rising premiums. The national average for home…
Tubbs Wildfire survivor helping Maui victims with insurance claims
Tubbs Wildfire survivor helping Maui victims with insurance claims

A Santa Rosa woman is in Maui helping survivors of the wildfires rebuild their lives and futures. As a survivor of the North Bay Wildfires herself, the mission is a labor of love. “I tend to see the challenges. I tend to see the heartache,”…
Santa Rosa survivor of Tubbs Fire on the job in Maui with counsel for fire victims
Santa Rosa survivor of Tubbs Fire on the job in Maui with counsel for fire victims

Sonoma County resident Annie Barbour arrived in Maui last week hoping her past may help rebuild the future of survivors of the devastating wildfires that leveled the island town of Lahaina. Barbour’s work connecting survivors with resources through United Policyholders of San Francisco comes with…
Santa Rosa survivor of Tubbs Fire on the job in Maui with counsel for fire victims
Santa Rosa survivor of Tubbs Fire on the job in Maui with counsel for fire victims

Sonoma County resident Annie Barbour arrived in Maui last week hoping her past may help rebuild the future of survivors of the devastating wildfires that leveled the island town of Lahaina. Barbour’s work connecting survivors with resources through United Policyholders of San Francisco comes with…
Maui Wildfire Survivors Accessing “Been There” Roadmap to Recovery® Expertise
Maui Wildfire Survivors Accessing “Been There” Roadmap to Recovery® Expertise

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The national non-profit United Policyholders (UP), which has earned high marks over three decades for easing and improving wildfire recovery for impacted households in California, Colorado, Washington, Arizona and Oregon,announced today that it is delivering help to Maui residents through multiple…
Insurers Gave Ron DeSantis Millions. He Made It Harder to Sue Them.
Insurers Gave Ron DeSantis Millions. He Made It Harder to Sue Them.

The Florida governor’s insurance overhaul is hurting homeowners—and possibly his presidential campaign. Last fall, Jonathan Stettin decided he and his longtime partner Jeanie would stay put in their Cape Coral, Florida, home, rather than evacuate for Hurricane Ian. Meteorologists had warned that the storm was…
Why you should consider flood insurance and what CA is doing to protect communities
Why you should consider flood insurance and what CA is doing to protect communities

As many Californians recover from the devastating winter storms, many are realizing there are gaps in their insurance coverage, leaving them vulnerable. It’s been months since the devastating winter storms destroyed homes and businesses in the state. As many Californians are still struggling to recover,…
Over 50,000 To Lose Homeowners Insurance as Two More Insurers Exit California
Over 50,000 To Lose Homeowners Insurance as Two More Insurers Exit California

Two more insurance companies will exit the California homeowners market, further narrowing options for people seeking to insure their home or to purchase a house with a mortgage. AmGUARD Insurance—a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies—will withdraw its homeowners and personal umbrella programs in…