April 30, 2019 Insurance Coverage Drying Up As California Wildfire Recovery Drags On After the Tubbs Fire reduced their Santa Rosa, Calif., home to ash in October 2017, Chris Keys and his wife, Sara Jakel-Keys, said deciding to rebuild was easy. But a year and a half after the fire, the road to normalcy has proved longer and…
April 25, 2019 For California Fire Survivors, Rebuilding Can Be Long And Painful After the Tubbs fire reduced their Santa Rosa home to ash in October 2017, Chris Keys and his wife Sara Jakel Keys say deciding to rebuild was easy. But a year and a half later, the road to normalcy has proven longer and more painful…
April 23, 2019 Techquake: The Biggest Threat to California’s Tech-Sector May Lie Directly Beneath its Feet California’s technology sector has had a tough year with state and federal policymakers, to say nothing of the general public. Concerns about the size and scope of internet firms have led to a “techlash,” bringing with it uncomfortable hearings and the resurrection of truly noxious…
April 21, 2019 Two Sonoma County men file lawsuit, urging state to protect fire survivors from unlicensed adjusters Two Sonoma County men are suing the California Department of Insurance for allegedly allowing out-of-state insurance adjusters to work illegally in the state without proper registration, enabling unsupervised adjusters to dole out costly bad advice to wildfire survivors. Plaintiffs Jeff Sengstack, who lost his Santa…
April 20, 2019 Wildfires make it harder for California homeowners to get insurance As the cost and risk of California wildfires grow, it’s getting harder for homeowners to get and keep insurance in fire-prone regions including the Sierra foothills, Tahoe and some parts of the Bay Area. Homeowners rejected by mainstream companies are turning in greater numbers to…
April 12, 2019 Wildfire Took Your Home? Don’t Count on Insurance Rebuilding It Own a home? No doubt you’ve insured it. Very sensible of you. But if that home were, say, burned to the ground, then your insurance company probably wouldn’t cover the cost of rebuilding it. Don’t feel too bad, though. It’s only partly your fault. Two-thirds…
April 4, 2019 Nip coverage gutting in the bud, UP tells CA Gov’s Commission on Catastrophic Wildfire Recovery Insurance remains a critically important source of disaster recovery financing for individuals, businesses, and government, but insurers must do a better job at insuring homes to value and paying benefits in a timely manner, UP Co-Founder and Executive Director Amy Bach told a high-level California…
March 25, 2019 UP presentation to state regulators on Disasters and Insurance – Marketplace Gaps and Fillers In this Power Point, UP Co-Founder Amy Bach and Professor Peter Kochenburger, (U.Conn Law) presented points to state regulators on the topic of insurance gaps that surface after disasters, and products to fill those gaps that may or should be available in the marketplace. November,…
March 25, 2019 Bach Talk – Government supported property insurance programs are here to stay If a home or business owner in the United States can’t find property insurance in the private market, they can buy it through a variety of hybrid public/private arrangements, often referred to as “pools” or “Residual Market Mechanisms” (insurance lingo for programs that cover risks…
March 23, 2019 Explaining to Homeowners Reconstruction Costs Versus Other Valuations The source of this article is a business that provides services to the insurance industry. According to a recent CoreLogic Natural Hazard Press Release, the 2018 Camp and Woolsey Wildfires in California caused devastating losses between $15 and $19 billon. Because a home is most…
March 23, 2019 North Bay floods alert businesses to uncover the quirks of their insurance coverage As North Bay business owners directly impacted by last month’s floods push through massive recovery efforts, they’re also having to deal with the fact that part of their business insurance coverage is useless. That part of the coverage is called business interruption insurance, part of…
March 22, 2019 Midwest floods: Ruptured levees could cost billions to repair Almost half of the country lives near a levee, and 12 have already failed during spring flooding Critics blame Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA for broken levees flooding the Midwest The levees “were set up to fail,” says flood insurance expert The small town…
March 5, 2019 A dark cloud over the Sunshine State UP weighed in today with a letter to Florida state lawmakers to urge their no votes on three bills that will gut policyholder protections in that state if enacted as written. House Bill 301, Senate Bill 714, House Bill 751. Honorable Florida lawmakers: Our non-profit…
March 4, 2019 Sonoma County Flood Damage Estimated At $155M The county and at least two cities have declared local emergencies. A Local Assistance Center is now open in Guerneville. SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Days of heavy rains and flooding along the Russian River have caused an estimated $155 million in damage across Sonoma County,…
March 2, 2019 Latest North Bay disaster underscores growing need for flood insurance After reeling from property damage caused by recent wildfires, North Bay residents now are confronting another natural disaster in flooding — a threat that is not covered by property insurance and which could escalate as storms become more volatile in a changing climate. Unlike fire-related…
March 2, 2019 Support Center For Residents Impacted By Storms A local assistance center will open Sunday in Guerneville to provide services to Sonoma County residents affected by recent storms and flooding. Government agencies and nonprofits will be represented at the center, and all county residents can access services regardless of immigration status, according to…
March 1, 2019 Your assets – Your flood risk? After insurers began excluding coverage for flood damage in the 1960’s, most people’s homes became unprotected for that risk. The federal government and the lending and insurance industries created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and a requirement that homes with mortgages in high flood…
February 21, 2019 Groups Petition CA Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara To Ban Use of Occupation and Education to Price Auto Insurance Community organizations representing consumers, low-income workers and communities of color petitioned Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara today to ban the use of occupation and education to set auto insurance premiums. Many California auto insurance companies charge lower-income and less-educated drivers up to 15% more in order…
