Oklahoma insurance rates increase again – proposed legislation could help
Oklahoma insurance rates increase again – proposed legislation could help

Many families in Oklahoma have been opening up their mail to find notices that their insurance rates have gone up again, sometimes by hundreds of dollars. Frustrated drivers and homeowners have to find ways to budget for the added and unwanted cost. “Oklahoma has been…
Storms in California hit homeowners already facing an insurance crisis
Storms in California hit homeowners already facing an insurance crisis

The storms pummeling California this week hit a part of the US already being battered by a home insurance crisis. Insurance costs in much of California have become exceedingly high, with some insurers abandoning the market, unwilling to take on the risk presented by the…
Storms in California hit homeowners already facing an insurance crisis
Storms in California hit homeowners already facing an insurance crisis

The storms pummeling California this week hit a part of the US already being battered by a home insurance crisis. Insurance costs in much of California have become exceedingly high, with some insurers abandoning the market, unwilling to take on the risk presented by the…
Bach Talk: An insured future depends on bold public/private innovation
Bach Talk: An insured future depends on bold public/private innovation

By Amy Bach, Executive Director, United Policyholders So far 2024 has brought more bad news for property owners, public officials, lenders and home builders on the insurance availability and affordability fronts with non-renewals, scant options and high premiums. Front page news across the country. Rate…
The ‘red flags’ in INSURE Act natural catastrophe reinsurance program bill
The ‘red flags’ in INSURE Act natural catastrophe reinsurance program bill

Insurance policyholder advocates believe reinsurance program is needed amid insurer pullbacks Millions of Americans are squaring up to a homeowners’ insurance affordability and availability crisis, aided by climate change impacts, and legislators are set to grapple with whether a federal reinsurance backstop that has garnered…
Community Foundation grant to help DeSoto residents still recovering from Hurricane Ian
Community Foundation grant to help DeSoto residents still recovering from Hurricane Ian

A nonprofit agency created after Hurricane Ian to aid DeSoto County residents in need of disaster assistance has been awarded a $105,000 grant, the group announced on Tuesday. The Hope DeSoto Long-Term Recovery Group received the grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. The…
Experts Urge Justices To Bar Insurer’s Ch. 11 Challenge
Experts Urge Justices To Bar Insurer’s Ch. 11 Challenge

Truck Insurance Exchange’s contention that it is a “party in interest” with standing to challenge its insureds’ Chapter 11 reorganization plan, which established a trust for asbestos injury claims, would upend the bankruptcy system if accepted, experts and policyholder representatives told the U.S. Supreme Court…
Grant to help DeSoto residents still recovering from Hurricane Ian
Grant to help DeSoto residents still recovering from Hurricane Ian

DESOTO COUNTY, Fla. (WWSB) – A nonprofit agency set up after Hurricane Ian to aid DeSoto County residents still in need of disaster assistance has been awarded a $105,000 grant, the group announced Tuesday. The Hope DeSoto Long-Term Recovery Group received the grant from the…
Increase your resiliency in the new year…
Increase your resiliency in the new year…

If you own a home, we suggest putting “make risk reduction improvements” on your New Year’s resolution list. Taking steps to make it less likely that severe weather or a wildfire will damage your home is more important than ever. Insurers have added new coverage…
Call Kurtis: What to do if your home insurance company drops you?
Call Kurtis: What to do if your home insurance company drops you?

The Hartford Insurance is the latest company to say it will stop writing new homeowners’ policies in California starting Feb. 1. It cites challenges in the market, especially with the California fire risk. The industry says it’s struggled to get the Department of Insurance to…
ReCoverCA Owner-Occupied Mitigation (OOM) Grant
ReCoverCA Owner-Occupied Mitigation (OOM) Grant

Grant Alert:  ReCoverCA Owner-Occupied Mitigation (OOM) Grant: Open Learn more here: https://www.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/grants/wildfire-prevention-grants (Scroll down to OOM Grant) 2020 Eligible Counties Include: Butte, Santa Cruz, Solano, Fresno, Los Angeles, Napa, Shasta, Siskiyou, and Sonoma counties. Thank you Brittany Halfhide, ReCoverCA, for sharing this opportunity with our WRAP…
Federal natural catastrophe backstop would increase premiums, reinsurers warn
Federal natural catastrophe backstop would increase premiums, reinsurers warn

Recent Bill INSURE Act has policyholder advocate backing but RAA has concerns The Reinsurance Association of America (RAA) has aired concerns that a federal natural catastrophe reinsurance program, like that mooted in the recently introduced INSURE Act, would add to insurance costs for Americans rather…
Uninsurable Homes Are Climate Change’s Latest Victims In The California and Florida Housing Markets
Uninsurable Homes Are Climate Change’s Latest Victims In The California and Florida Housing Markets

In a world grappling with extreme weather events and shifting insurance trends, the once-assured protection of homeowners’ insurance is becoming a luxury that many can’t afford. The housing markets in climate risk-prone states like California and Florida are facing an unprecedented crisis, as insurers grapple…
The Mood Swings on Insurer Bad-Faith in Oregon: An Analysis of the Oregon Supreme Court Decision in Moody v. Oregon Community Credit Union
The Mood Swings on Insurer Bad-Faith in Oregon: An Analysis of the Oregon Supreme Court Decision in Moody v. Oregon Community Credit Union

The Oregon Supreme Court has long held the legislature did not create a private right of action under the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act (ORS 746.230). Policyholders could bring a tort claim against their insurance company only if the insurer was subject to a standard…
The least affordable housing market in more than a generation is facing another threat: Uninsurable properties
The least affordable housing market in more than a generation is facing another threat: Uninsurable properties

Garret Gray sort of laughs when he tells Fortune about how his house in a Los Angeles canyon was nearly uninsurable. Surrounded by brush, “it’s got a really bad CoreLogic fire score,” he says. And he should know: As the president of CoreLogic’s global insurance…
California should require insurers to cover homeowners who protect property, advocate says
California should require insurers to cover homeowners who protect property, advocate says

Carmen Balber, the executive director of the advocacy organization Consumer Watchdog, said she came to Sacramento recently to pitch legislators and their staff on a plan she hopes will help some Californians keep their property insurance. She wants lawmakers to require that companies sell policies…
Consumer Advocacy Organizations Question Insurance Commissioner Role in Anti-Consumer Legislation
Consumer Advocacy Organizations Question Insurance Commissioner Role in Anti-Consumer Legislation

The CA Dept. of Insurance is sponsoring a bill heavily influenced by life and annuity insurers that undermines what Biden’s Department of Labor has proposed to keep consumers away from unsuitable products Bill being rushed months before deadline harms consumers; no meaningful negotiations despite bill’s…
New bill to create $50bn federal backstop for catastrophe reinsurance
New bill to create $50bn federal backstop for catastrophe reinsurance

Democrat Representative Adam Schiff has proposed legislation in the US House of Representatives that would create a $50 billion federal backstop for catastrophe reinsurance. Schiff, a California Congressman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the US Senate, said the Incorporating National Support for Unprecedented…