As wildfires drive insurance premiums up, will homeowners be able to keep up?
As wildfires drive insurance premiums up, will homeowners be able to keep up?

At first, Lucy Reynolds was unnerved by the non-renewal notice from the insurance company two years ago. Mortgaged homes must have coverage so Reynolds and her husband needed to find a replacement, quick. She was turned down by her neighbor’s carrier and an insurance agent…
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…
Here’s How to Help California Fire Victims, Now and Years Into the Future
Here’s How to Help California Fire Victims, Now and Years Into the Future

Keep your old clothes. Give cash to groups that help survivors deal, heal, and rebuild. People send used clothes. Stuffed animals. Canned goods. A fine sentiment. But these things are just not very useful and require too much work to sort through and distribute. If…
How climate change is changing your insurance
How climate change is changing your insurance

As victims of the California wildfires begin to think about rebuilding their homes, advocates and policymakers are warning that natural disasters, made more frequent and destructive because of climate change, could make home insurance unaffordable and force more Americans to rely on government insurance programs…
What to Know About Insurance If You Live in a Fire-Prone Area
What to Know About Insurance If You Live in a Fire-Prone Area

Your homeowners’ or renters’ insurance should cover the repairs. If you don’t yet have a policy, here’s what to do. The California Camp Fire has destroyed more than 12,000 homes as of Tuesday morning, and displaced more than 300,000 people. The damage will cost insurers…
How Wildfires Are Making Some California Homes Uninsurable
How Wildfires Are Making Some California Homes Uninsurable

California’s wildfires keep growing bigger, more frequent and more destructive. Of the 20 worst wildfires in state history, four were just last year, giving rise to a record $12.6 billion of insurance claims. It hasn’t gotten any better this year. The Mendocino Complex Fire in…
Maximizing Insurance Payouts After The California Fires
Maximizing Insurance Payouts After The California Fires

It is estimated that there are over 13.5 million homes in California and one-third of those are located in or near areas vulnerable to wildfires. Unfortunately, for those of us who live and work in California, wildfires are an annual occurrence that have, in recent…
1 Woman Who Lost Her Home To A Fire In 2003 Steps In To Help Victims Of Woolsey Fire
1 Woman Who Lost Her Home To A Fire In 2003 Steps In To Help Victims Of Woolsey Fire

NPR’s Scott Simon speaks with fire survivor Karen Reimus whose house burned down in San Diego in 2003. She will be volunteering at a local assistance shelter to help survivors of the wildfires. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: California’s increasing and increasingly destructive wildfires have created a…
For California fire victims, it will be a long, tough road to rebuild
For California fire victims, it will be a long, tough road to rebuild

The fires that tore through California in the past week have reduced homes to ash, upending lives and leaving thousands in sudden need of shelter. But beyond the immediate challenges of finding a place to live in a state with a perpetual shortage of housing,…
Tips and Tools for Making Sure You’re Properly Insured in the Event of a Wildfire
Tips and Tools for Making Sure You’re Properly Insured in the Event of a Wildfire

If you didn’t lose your home, these fires are a startling reminder of the importance of being properly insured. In fact, advocacy group United Policyholders says two-thirds of wildfire victims are under-insured by more than $100,000. Here are tips for making sure you’re protected. First,…
Fire victms may have insurance coverage, but …
Fire victms may have insurance coverage, but …

Consumer advice: There are many ways policies fall short of what homeowners actually lose. The vast majority of California homeowners have insurance that covers fire damage. But that doesn’t mean they can breathe easy. Property insurance lawyers say it’s not uncommon for some insurers to…
Fire-weary California homeowners face long road to recovery
Fire-weary California homeowners face long road to recovery

Californians who lost a home to the state’s wildfires could face a nightmarish recovery as they try to rebuild. It’s always a challenge to recuperate after any disaster, but California residents face a unique problem. Experts say the seemingly endless series of devastating wildfires in…
How to deal with an insurer after your home is burned down
How to deal with an insurer after your home is burned down

The vast majority of California homeowners have insurance that covers fire damage. But that doesn’t mean you can breathe easy. Property insurance lawyers say it’s not uncommon for insurers to do everything possible to minimize payouts, especially after catastrophic blazes such as the ones now…
State senator and businessman run for state insurance commissioner post in wildfire aftermath
State senator and businessman run for state insurance commissioner post in wildfire aftermath

The race for California insurance commissioner this year has taken on greater importance for North Bay residents, after many have found themselves with homes underinsured as a result of last year’s wildfires. And reforms to overhaul homeowner insurance regulations to provide more ways to help…
Will Home Insurance Pay To Fully Rebuild? Probably Not
Will Home Insurance Pay To Fully Rebuild? Probably Not

It’s been 12 months since Madonna Day’s home burned down in the North Bay wildfires. “I miss it so much,” she said. “My whole life’s treasures and memories are gone to ash.” She and her daughter Marie-Louise Clark are eager to rebuild the farmhouse they…
Joint hearing addresses insurance concerns from North Bay fire victims
Joint hearing addresses insurance concerns from North Bay fire victims

NAPA, Calif.KTVU) – A joint hearing of the state Assembly and Senate Insurance Committees took place at Napa Valley College on Tuesday. The hearing comes after many key proposed reforms, were defeated in the Legislature. The hearing explored if homeowner’s insurance coverage actually meets the…
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…
One year after California’s most devastating wildfire, Santa Rosa is a patchwork of loss and renewal
One year after California’s most devastating wildfire, Santa Rosa is a patchwork of loss and renewal

It was just one year ago when Tricia Woods lost her home in a single, impossible instant. The Tubbs fire, the most destructive wildfire in California history, had ripped through Sonoma County and incinerated more than 5,500 homes, including the middle school teacher’s own four-bedroom…