September 28, 2023 County hosts webinar on homeowners insurance The current crisis of property insurance affordability and availability that’s impacting homeowners, as well as options for keeping homes protected, are the subjects of a county-wide public webinar. Read more.
September 22, 2023 How Your Insurance Rates are Set in California The following was written by Joel Laucher, a former regulator and United Policyholders’ staff member whose work is focused on wildfire risk reduction and appropriate insurance rewards for mitigation. Prior to joining Team UP, Joel rose through the ranks at the California Department of Insurance…
August 28, 2023 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…
July 28, 2023 Rolling with the policy punches UPdated shopping tips Our guidance on shopping for property insurance has been focused on helping consumers select from competing options and avoid underinsuring their assets. For reasons we explained in last month’s tip, a growing number of people across the United States are now scrambling…
July 27, 2023 Press Release: Rural Representatives and Consumer Group partner to address California’s regional home insurance crisis Rural Representatives and Consumer Group partner to address California’s regional home insurance crisis For Immediate Release: July 26th, 2023 Contact: Amy Bach, Executive Director, media@uphelp.org SAN FRANCISCO, July 26, 2023 – To assist the thousands of California residents in rural and…
July 20, 2023 California Home Insurance FAQs The home insurance situation remains very challenging in California, there’s no sugar-coating it. The one bright spot in the recent announcements by three leading insurers that they will no longer sell new policies is that none of them are leaving the state or wide-scale dropping…
June 29, 2023 Wildfire Season is Here – Get Prepared! Summertime and the living is easy…except that wildfire season’s starting and the leading insurer just announced they’re not selling new policies in California. UP has been busier than ever getting useful tips out to residents of wildfire-vulnerable regions on reducing risk, being prepared and keeping…
June 29, 2023 What’s the RX for home insurance headaches? Rising home insurance prices and shrinking availability have made headlines across the nation in recent weeks, but the situation is not news to UP. It has been developing regionally for years, and we’ve been contributing to solutions through multiple advocacy and consumer help workstreams. The…
February 20, 2023 How to Prepare For a Hurricane and Other Natural Disasters It’s natural to worry about the effect of wildfires, floods and other natural disasters on your home. Get ready for whatever might come your way. As a resident of storm-prone central Florida for close to 40 years, Rich Franco is prepared for pretty much anything…
January 31, 2023 Winter storm recovery and insurance: Baby, it’s cold… Collecting insurance funds to pay for damage from heavy rains and localized flooding can be tricky. Insurers have been excluding floods in standard home policies since the 1960s, but the cost of repairing damage from water intrusion due to wind-driven rain, fallen trees, flying debris,…
January 16, 2023 Insurance denied: More Coloradans can’t get homeowner’s insurance because of wildfire risk More and more Colorado homeowners across the state are being denied homeowners insurance because of wildfire risk. Now, the state insurance commissioner, state lawmakers, and homeowners are working together on a solution, as the insurance industry issues a warning. Colorado homeowners being denied insurance On…
December 23, 2022 Tis the Season to Get Prepared Need a last minute holiday gift? Give the people you love peace of mind by helping them be financially resilient and prepared. This Give Peace of Mind Gift Catalog is full of free tips to help spark important discussions and actions around disaster preparedness. Whether you are traveling…
December 16, 2022 2022…it’s a WRAP* As another productive work year draws to a close for Team UP, we can celebrate the holidays knowing we’ve helped many people overcome disaster recovery and insurance challenges in 2022 and been an effective champion for consumers on many fronts. Through our work with elected…
July 29, 2022 Cal OES Awards $25 Million in Grants to Local Organizations to Protect Vulnerable Communities from Disasters Funding Designed to Increase Disaster Preparedness and Resiliency in Socially Vulnerable Communities Statewide SACRAMENTO, CA – As part of California’s nation-leading effort to build resilience among vulnerable populations living in areas of the state most susceptible to natural disasters, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal…
May 6, 2022 Mind the Gap This is your friendly reminder that earthquake damage is NOT covered by your home or renters insurance policy unless you’ve paid extra for that protection. UP keeps tabs on earthquake insurance options and we recently moderated a National “Mind the Gap” Earthquake Insurance Forum in…
March 4, 2022 Guest Blog: Fire Resistant Building Materials for New Home Construction With the climate crisis in full effect, it appears that wildfires are on the rise. Especially in states like California, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, Montana, and others, wildfires are a huge issue. Every year there are multiple dangerous outbreaks of fire that spread across countries threatening…
January 31, 2022 We get it…risk reduction isn’t easy Here’s a New Year’s resolution that doesn’t involve depriving yourself of something you like to eat or drink: Do at least one thing in 2022 to make it less likely that your home could be damaged or destroyed due to a weather event or natural…
December 7, 2021 The Wildfire List: 13 Home Improvement Steps to Harden Your Home After a year of work, our WRAP working group issued a list of 13 home improvement steps that we believe should be the official standards for a wildfire prepared home. Here are the 13 recommendations from an array of experts in residential wildfire risk reduction.…
