Insurance Hour

Education Is the Missing Piece: Karl Susman's Message to California's Insurance Regulators When the Little Hoover Commission convened its April 2024 hearing on California's home insurance crisis, lawmakers, regulators, and industry experts came together to dissect the state's collapsing market. Insurance carriers are retreating, homeowners are being forced into the FAIR Plan, and the cost of rebui...

Catastrophe Modeling Comes to California: How AI and Data Are Reshaping the State's Insurance Landscape California's insurance market is undergoing a seismic transformation. As wildfires, floods, and other climate-related disasters grow more destructive, the state's long-standing approach to regulating insurance — rooted in 1980s-era policies — is being pushed to its limits. In April 2024, the Cal...

Catastrophe Modeling and California's Insurance Future: Why It's Time to Follow the Data When a homeowner in California opens their mail today, they might find one of three things: a non-renewal notice, a sharp rate increase, or a referral to the FAIR Plan. For years, insurers have been retreating from the state, citing wildfire losses, outdated regulations, and growing catastrophe risk. But behin...

Revolutionizing Insurance: How SnapRefund and Cody Eddings Are Transforming Payments, Claims, and Trust in the Industry For decades, the insurance industry has been defined by caution, paperwork, and delay. From claim checks that take weeks to arrive to billing systems that make agents pull their hair out, one of America's most essential industries has also been one of its slowest to innovate. But...

Inside California's Insurance Crisis: A Conversation with Deputy Insurance Commissioner Michael Soller As California's property insurance market continues to reel from company withdrawals, policy non-renewals, and skyrocketing premiums, the question on every homeowner's mind remains: Is there a plan to fix this? In a recent episode of The Insurance Hour , host Karl Susman sat down with Michael Sol...

California's Insurance Crisis Hits San Diego: State Farm Pulls Out of 50 ZIP Codes California's homeowners insurance crisis has reached San Diego County. According to CBS 8 (KFMB) , State Farm , the state's largest insurer, will discontinue homeowner coverage in 50 ZIP codes across the region , beginning this summer. The company's decision is part of a statewide withdrawal that will see more than...

State Farm's Wildfire Exit: Bay Area Communities Hit Hard as Non-Renewals Begin The insurance crisis in California continues to deepen. This April, CBS KPIX San Francisco reported that State Farm , the state's largest home insurer, is non-renewing more than 30,000 homeowner policies statewide , with some of the hardest-hit communities located right in the Bay Area's hillsides and foothills. For ho...

State Farm Pulls Back in Los Angeles: Wildfire Risk Drives Non-Renewals Across Southern California California's homeowners insurance crisis continues to expand — and now the impact is being felt squarely in Los Angeles. In early April 2024, NBC4 Los Angeles reported that State Farm , the state's largest property insurer, will not renew more than 70,000 home and apartment insurance policies across...

California's Insurance Crossroads: Navigating the Uncharted Waters of Coverage, Cost, and Regulation California's insurance market is standing at a crossroads. What was once a stable, competitive environment for homeowners and businesses has become one of the nation's most unpredictable and fragile. Rising premiums, shrinking availability, and regulatory bottlenecks have collided to form what many...

State Farm Pulls Coverage from California Hillside Communities: What Homeowners Need to Know The slow-motion unraveling of California's homeowners insurance market continued this April, as CBS KCAL News reported that State Farm —the state's largest property insurer—is non-renewing tens of thousands of policies in some of Southern California's most vulnerable hillside neighborhoods. The cuts, conce...

California Insurance Shake-Up: State Farm's Massive Non-Renewals and the Growing Strain on the FAIR Plan California's homeowners insurance market is once again in crisis. FOX KTVU reported on April 8, 2024, that State Farm , the state's largest insurer, plans to drop tens of thousands of homeowner and rental dwelling policies later this year — a sweeping move driven by wildfire risk and market ins...

Another Exit: American National Joins Growing List of Insurers Leaving California California's insurance crisis has deepened yet again. On April 5, 2024, ABC 10 News San Diego reported that American National Insurance Company will stop offering homeowners insurance in California — leaving roughly 36,000 policyholders statewide , including 7,000 in San Diego County , scrambling to find new coverage...

Unlocking the Mysteries of Insurance: Why We Need It, How It Works, and How to Make It Work for You Insurance may not be anyone's favorite topic—but it touches every part of our financial lives. From the car you drive to the home you live in, insurance represents a quiet but essential promise: that if disaster strikes, you won't have to face it alone. Still, many people feel a deep sense of "insur...

California's Insurance Crossroads: Karl Susman on Climate Risk, FAIR Plan Strain, and the Path Toward Reform California's insurance market is in the midst of a full-blown identity crisis. With major insurers withdrawing, premiums surging, and climate events growing more destructive, the state once known for innovation now finds itself struggling to insure its own future. In a wide-ranging intervie...

The Turning Point in California's Insurance Crisis: Why the Department of Insurance's New Rules Could Finally Restore Balance California's insurance system is at a breaking point — but also, potentially, at the beginning of a long-overdue recovery. In a historic public rulemaking hearing at the California Department of Insurance (CDI) , regulators, industry leaders, and consumer advocates met to d...

The Future of Insurance: How Reinsurance and InsurTech Are Reshaping Risk The insurance world is in flux. From rising premiums to regulatory gridlock and the growing role of artificial intelligence, the industry faces one of its most complex periods in decades. In a recent episode of Insurance Hour , host Karl Susman sat down with Randel Bennett , former VP at Swiss Re and founder of Quickscent ,...

California's FAIR Plan Faces Insolvency Warnings: What It Means for Homeowners and the State's Insurance Future California's fragile insurance market may be reaching a breaking point. As more insurers retreat from high-risk areas, tens of thousands of homeowners are being forced into the state's "insurer of last resort" — the California FAIR Plan . But that system, designed as a safety net, is now...

State Farm's Latest Exit: What 72,000 Policy Non-Renewals Reveal About California's Deepening Insurance Crisis California's fragile homeowners insurance market has been dealt another major blow. On March 22, 2024, KTLA 5 News reported that State Farm — the state's largest property insurer — will not renew approximately 72,000 home and apartment insurance policies across California this summer. The...

State Farm's Latest Move: What the Non-Renewal of 72,000 Policies Means for California's Insurance Market California's insurance market is once again in turmoil. On March 21, 2024, State Farm , the state's largest property insurer, announced that it will not renew over 72,000 insurance policies across California — citing a need to "ensure its long-term sustainability." This announcement marks anot...

Governance Meets Insurance: Building Resilient Communities in an Era of Climate Risk California's insurance landscape isn't just shaped by carriers and regulators — it's also influenced by local governments making decisions about fire prevention, flood control, and community readiness. In a recent episode of The Insurance Hour, host Karl Susman sat down with Das Williams , Santa Barbara County Sup...

California's New Insurance Rules: How Catastrophe Modeling Could Finally Bring Stability to Homeowners California's insurance market has been under stress for years. Wildfires, floods, inflation, and an outdated regulatory system have driven insurers out of the state, leaving homeowners with skyrocketing premiums and limited options. But new action from the California Department of Insurance (CDI)...

California's Insurance Reform Crossroads: Will New Rules Bring Relief — or Higher Rates? California's homeowners insurance crisis has reached a defining moment. After years of catastrophic wildfires, floods, and insurer withdrawals, the state's Department of Insurance is taking a bold step: allowing insurers to use predictive computer models to set rates. The reform, unveiled by Insurance Commissi...

California's FAIR Plan Under Fire: Training, Technology, and Transparency — The Three T's to Fix a Broken System As California's insurance crisis deepens, all eyes are on the California FAIR Plan Association — the state's "insurer of last resort" — which now finds itself at the center of legislative scrutiny. At a recent California State Assembly Insurance Committee Hearing , lawmakers, regulators...

Navigating the New Normal: How Inflation, Climate, and Consumer Choices Are Reshaping Insurance In today's world, the phrase "new normal" applies to almost everything—from how we work to how we shop. But few industries illustrate this shift as vividly as insurance. As Karl Susman , host of The Insurance Hour , explains in his latest episode, both consumers and insurers are grappling with unpredict...

California's Insurance Squeeze: Why Premiums Keep Rising — and Why Relief Might Be on the Horizon It's no secret that California's insurance market has been under enormous strain. For the past several years, homeowners have faced skyrocketing premiums, shrinking coverage options, and unprecedented carrier withdrawals. From wildfires and floods to inflation and outdated regulation, the state's insu...