Home replacement costs at center of California insurance dispute
Home replacement costs at center of California insurance dispute

In a move to prevent homeowners from being underinsured after disasters, the California insurance commissioner has imposed new regulations for estimating a home’s replacement value for insurance purposes. Some insurers have sued in response, saying the regulations overstep the commissioner’s legal boundaries and could harm…
Insurance Commissioner Jones Announces New Regulations to Protect Homeowners From Being Underinsured
Insurance Commissioner Jones Announces New Regulations to Protect Homeowners From Being Underinsured

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, joined by Amy Bach, Executive Director of United Policyholders, announced today a series of new homeowners regulations aimed at enhancing the standards and training for estimating the replacement value on homeowners’ insurance in the event of a disaster. These new regulations…
California Trade Groups File Suit to Stop ‘Replacement’ Regulation
California Trade Groups File Suit to Stop ‘Replacement’ Regulation

Two California trade associations have filed court documents in an attempt to stop one aspect of regulations that were implemented June 27 by Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. The Association of California Insurance Companies ACIC) and the Personal Insurance Federation of California PIFC) say in a…
Vanishing Act: Your Home Insurance Coverage is Disappearing
Vanishing Act: Your Home Insurance Coverage is Disappearing

There’s a disturbing nationwide trend of insurance companies chipping away at coverage for homeowners, says Amy Bach, executive director of the nonprofit United Policyholders consumer group. She says she’s disturbed by what she sees as policies becoming less adequate. “We have been working on a…
Catastrophe reveals insurance woes for homeowners
Catastrophe reveals insurance woes for homeowners

SAN BRUNO, Calif. KGO) — Most homeowners have insurance, but few ever find out if their coverage is adequate until disaster strikes. The San Bruno pipeline explosion is one example of a major catastrophe putting home owner’s insurance to the test. Tammy Zapata is a…
5 lies home insurance agents tell
5 lies home insurance agents tell

Sometimes insurance agents tell you what they think you want to hear in order to sell a home insurance policy and secure a commission. When misfortunes occur, homeowners who count on insurance to carry them through tough times sometimes get an unpleasant surprise: They don’t…
At Workshop, Residents Learn How to Go Green When Rebuilding Homes
At Workshop, Residents Learn How to Go Green When Rebuilding Homes

Nonprofit United Policyholders offered presentations to residents interested in rebuilding their homes green after the Sept. 9 pipeline explosion and showed that there is help available. Jerry Guernsey was always talking about making his house more green. In fact, he has considered himself green for…
Nine tips for buying auto insurance online
Nine tips for buying auto insurance online

Just as more consumers are gravitating toward shopping sites like Amazon.com and Zappos.com, more auto insurance consumers are shopping online than ever before. According to a 2011 study by J.D. Power and Associates, 54 percent of auto insurance shoppers are getting quotes online. That’s up…
Activist Seeks Insurance Complaints
Activist Seeks Insurance Complaints
Got Insurance? Enough? You Sure?
Got Insurance? Enough? You Sure?

Many U.S. homeowners haven’t insured their homes against earthquakes and other disasters, but the devastating losses in the wake of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan may cause people to give their insurance policies another look. As well they should. Earthquakes have occurred in…
Will Americans pay attention to earthquake insurance now?
Will Americans pay attention to earthquake insurance now?

The advice can’t get any simpler than this: “People who live near fault lines should have earthquake insurance,” says Amy Bach, executive director of the United Policyholders consumer organization. Will the disaster in Japan be the crisis that compels Americans in quake-prone areas to pay…
San Bruno victims get tax breaks on donations
San Bruno victims get tax breaks on donations

San Bruno victims get tax breaks on donationsSurvivors of the San Bruno gas line explosion won’t have to pay state taxes on donations received, state leaders decided this week.Gov. Jerry Brown late Wednesday signed a bill from Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, previously approved by…
Apps for Taking Inventory at Home
Apps for Taking Inventory at Home

By FARHAD MANJOO, The New York TimesHONESTLY, I didn’t set out to be a hoarder. It’s just that I’m a tech reviewer, and sometimes that amounts to the same thing. Technology companies are always sending me gadgets to evaluate; it’s my job to catalog everything…
Are you insured for the Big One?
Are you insured for the Big One?

Just 12% of homes in the state with fire insurance also have earthquake coverage, according to the California Earthquake Authority. Here’s what consumers shopping for coverage need to know. Reporting from Sacramento— The massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan will cost insurance companies billions…
Forged MetLife “Checks” Show Retained-Asset Account Risks
Forged MetLife “Checks” Show Retained-Asset Account Risks

After her mother died, Jasmine Williams was assured by MetLife Inc. that her $101,819 in life insurance benefits were safe and was sent what the company called a guaranteed money market “checkbook” in 2002. The next year, Williams, then 19, told New York-based MetLife that…
Accidental Death Becomes Suicide When Insurers Dodge Payouts
Accidental Death Becomes Suicide When Insurers Dodge Payouts

Jane Pierce spent nine years struggling alongside her husband, Todd, as he fought cancer in his sinus cavity. The treatments were working. Then, in July 2009, Todd died in a fiery car crash. He was 46. That was the beginning of a whole new battle…
Determining the Right Coverage
Determining the Right Coverage

Patrick Rodgers, the Philadelphia homeowner with the “foreclosure” case against Wells Fargo Home Mortgage that made him a national celebrity, declared victory last week. To settle his claim under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, he says, Wells Fargo WFC) agreed to reverse thousands of…
A Health Insurance Insider Offers Words of Advice
A Health Insurance Insider Offers Words of Advice

WENDELL POTTER is a 20-year health insurance veteran who served in top public relations jobs at such firms as Cigna and Humana. Now a senior analyst at the Center for Public Integrity, Mr. Potter has written “Deadly Spin,” a tell-all about practices of the health…