United Policyholders (UP)

Last night's United Policyholders (UP) Roadmap to Recovery webinar walked wildfire-impacted property owners through best practices for restoring homes that were damaged but not destroyed to a safe, habitable, pre-loss condition and working with insurance companies so they cover the associated costs. There is lots of controversy around this topic and it is very very important to successful individual and community recovery. Kudos to our outstanding volunteer expert panel, Sr. Industrial Hygienist Shawn Rau, CIEC, CAC, Remediation/Restoration contractor Kris Griffith with Anderson Group International Group, Inc., claim handling expert Sandra Moriarty, CPCU, attorney and public adjuster Denise Hsu Sze. Special thanks to my highly dedicated staff, Ammi Ludwick, Anne Barbour and Alexis Ricci. #wildfiredebris #smokedamage #uphelp #partiallosses #standinghomes #indoorairquality #smokeremediation.

In futherance of the work we are doing across the country to incentivize, reward and increase residential and community-wide risk reduction as a strategy for combatting the property insurance crisis, United Policyholders (UP) is proud to endorse and support the bi-partisan Disaster Resiliency and Coverage Act, co-sponsored by Congressmen Mike Thompson and Doug LaMalfa. This measure promotes resiliency by establishing a grant program to be administered by states and distributed to homeowners to fund disaster mitigation activities up to $10,000. It will create a tax credit of up to 30 percent of the cost of mitigation activities for homeowners who invest in home resiliency, and it directs states to ensure that insurers consider disaster mitigation activities when setting their rates. Mitigations can cost well more than $10k, so we like this combination approach. Now is the time to be doing everything we can to help Americans be pro-active in hardening their homes against extreme weather events and supporting community-wide risk reduction to prevent damage and restore reasonable insurance options. With insuretech magnifying risk, climate change manifesting in more frequent, severe weather disasters and premiums at an all-time high in many parts of the country, insurers are taking care of their bottom lines. Property owners need our help taking care of theirs. It's critical that we increase (not cut) funding for risk reduction and this bi-partisan effort is encouraging and important. Thank you Congressmen LaMalfa and Thompson!

Thanks to volunteers Andrea DeField, Patrick McDermott, Adriana Perez, United Policyholders (UP) has published an updated national survey of the state laws that govern insurance companies' good faith obliations to their policyholders, and remedies when those obligations are not met. The report builds on previous work by me, Jay Feinman (Rutgers University), and Daniel Wade. It's amazing how much our national volunteer corps makes it possible for our modest-sized non profit to accomplish.

United Policyholders (UP) assisted the Senator's office in connection with this initiative to resolve current insurance claim disputes, ease survivors' fears and ensure that they will not be financially forced to return to an unsafe home, apartment, condo, etc. #wildfirerecovery #lawildfires #smokeremediation #insuranceclaims #standinghomes #partialwildfireloss #smokedamage #uphelp

Listening, dialoguing and presenting at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) meeting in Colorado the past few days - EVERYONE is in agreement that we must facilitate risk reduction through expert-approved mitigation steps so hurricanes, tornadoes, severe convective storms and wildfires cause less damage and we can keep homes insured. To that end, I'm very proud of the "WRAP" (Wildfire Risk Reduction and Asset Protection) Resource Center that United Policyholders (UP) built and is continually updating with support from the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, and input from the members of our WRAP working group, which includes Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety - IBHS, CALFIRE PIO, NFPA, the California Department of Insurance and many, many others. We now offer mitigation help resource info for every CA county! Emily Rogan, Valerie Brown, Benjamin LaTurno, Joel Laucher Jordan Bach #roadmaptopreparedness #climatechange #mitigation #riskreduction #propertyinsurance

United Policyholders (UP) volunteers comforting and offering first steps guidance to people who recently lost their homes in the So Cal Mountain Fire. Heartbreaking losses. Inspiring kindness. #roadmaptorecovery #uphelp #wildfirerecovery #mountainfire

Drought conditions contributed to a wildfire in on the border of New Jersey and New York that took the life of a young volunteer firefighter. United Policyholders (UP) contributed to guidance for impacted property owners.

I'm excited to introduce a new member of the United Policyholders (UP)' staff, Assistant to the Executive Director, Peter Sloan. In just a few short weeks on the job, Peter is already making my hard job easier and helping advance our many workstreams. Welcome Peter!

Team UP (United Policyholders (UP) is pleased to welcome Alexis Ricci to our staff. Alexis is a seasoned insurance professional with 20+ years of experience, who is passionate about assisting disaster-impacted people and businesses, protecting consumers and advocating for fair insurance practices. She will be helping answer consumer questions, keeping our online help libraries updated and serving as a liaison to our sponsors and professional volunteers. Welcome Alexis!