February 18, 2022 People who lost homes in the Marshall Fire are trying to begin rebuilding. Their insurance coverage might stand in the way Craig Swift was getting ready to install a charger for an electric vehicle at his home in Louisville, so he called his insurance agent at State Farm. Swift and his wife, Cynthia, had just spent about $45,000 to upgrade the siding on their home. The…
February 18, 2022 Keep home insurance up to date I read an article on how a wildfire in Colorado destroyed 1,000 homes. The article claimed the losses would exceed $1 billion dollars. United Policyholders, a national nonprofit consumer-advocacy group based in California, claims two-thirds of fire victims are underinsured based on their surveys. That…
February 16, 2022 Regulators unveil wildfire safety plan. Will it fix rural California’s insurance crisis? State regulators rolled out a “Safer from Wildfire” program Monday to encourage rural residents and business owners to gird their properties as a way of fixing the insurance crisis that’s plagued the Sierra foothills and other fire-prone areas of California the past few years. The…
February 15, 2022 If you live in a fire-prone part of California, this roadmap can help you save on insurance With the fire season growing longer and wildfires increasing in intensity, Californians living in fire-prone areas are having a harder time finding affordable insurance for their homes — if they can find coverage at all. With that in mind, state officials unveiled a “Safer from Wildfires” framework this week for…
February 14, 2022 California Insurance Commissioner Lara and State Emergency Agencies Issue “Safer From Wildfires” Framework to Protect Existing Homes and Communities Drawing on the direct experience of first responders, fire safety experts, and the latest research on wildfires, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and emergency management leaders in Governor Gavin Newsom’s Administration today announced “Safer from Wildfires,” a new insurance framework that incorporates wildfire safety measures to…
February 7, 2022 Insurance Companies Are Abandoning Homeowners Facing Climate Disasters Insurance companies are leaving homeowners at the mercy of climate catastrophes they helped create. Major insurance companies are choosing to protect the fossil fuel industry while abandoning homeowners whose safety and livelihoods are being threatened by the industry’s carbon emissions. Insurance giants Chubb, Liberty Mutual,…
February 7, 2022 Should wildfire victims get more insurance money up front? Some lawmakers think so. When wildfire struck Grand County, Marjorie Cranston and her husband lost their home of 15 years. The loss was hard enough, Cranston said, without spending months scouring her brain to remember every single item lost in the flames. The 2020 East Troublesome Fire destroyed an estimated 366…
February 7, 2022 California wildfire survivor helps residents impacted by Marshall Fire navigate insurance LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW HERE The process of recovering from the Marshall Fire looks different for each person affected. For those who were insured, working with their provider to file claims and compile detailed inventories of belongings has become part of day-to-day life. But not…
February 7, 2022 Community Foundation Boulder County raises $27M for wildfire victims BOULDER — The Community Foundation Boulder County has raised $27 million for the Boulder County Wildfire Fund, which benefits victims of the Marshall Fire and the Middle Fork Fire. Funds were raised from 65,000 donors, with $7 million allocated in direct financial assistance. “Over 90%…
February 5, 2022 Housing workshop provides pragmatic and creative ways to see a future Greenville The Housing Workshop put on by the Dixie Fire Collaborative on Saturday, Feb. 5 in the Greenville Elementary School cafeteria might have been best described as a pragmatism-meets-creative-thinking in helping to guide property owners in Greenville to take the steps necessary in attempting to rebuild.…
February 3, 2022 United Policyholders Amy Bach on Marshall Fire Insurance Challenges Click below to listen to the radio interview: 2/3/22 KOA 850 AM & 94.1 FM
February 1, 2022 UP Launches 2022 California Home Insurance Survey California Homeowners: Take the Home Insurance Survey Today www.uphelp.org/CAhomeSurvey To help the thousands of Californians who are having trouble keeping their homes insured for a price they can afford, United Policyholders has launched a California Home Insurance Survey. This survey will be open for…
February 1, 2022 Insurance Companies Are Abandoning Homeowners Facing Climate Disasters Insurance companies are leaving homeowners at the mercy of climate catastrophes they helped create. Major insurance companies are choosing to protect the fossil fuel industry while abandoning homeowners whose safety and livelihoods are being threatened by the industry’s carbon emissions. Insurance giants Chubb, Liberty Mutual,…
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…
January 28, 2022 We get it…investing in risk reduction isn’t easy United Policyholders works hard to give people practical tips and guidance that’s realistic. The risk of wildfires is making insurance alot more expensive and hard to buy in many U.S. states. If you live in a wildfire-prone area, “hardening” your home and participating in community-wide risk…
January 26, 2022 Insurer pays state almost $170,000 for 2019 Rendezvous Road Fire DNR recovers firefighting costs for 175-acre blaze An insurance company has paid almost $170,000 through homeowner’s liability insurance to the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to cover firefighting costs for the Rendezvous Road Fire, which burned 175 acres in July 2019. A September 2019…
January 26, 2022 Wildfire risk: Marin homeowners face increasing insurance woes Marin homeowners are seeing an increase in insurance policy rates and dropped policies in the pandemic era due to wildfire risk. Statewide, a new report from the California Department of Insurance released last month found the number of California homeowners whose policies were not renewed…
January 21, 2022 National Association of Insurance Commissioners Names 2022 Consumer Liaison Representatives The National Association of Insurance Commissioners issued the following news release: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recently named 40 consumer liaison representatives for 2022. The 23 funded and 17 unfunded consumer representatives began their terms January 1. Nineteen of the funded consumer representatives participated in the program in…
