Posts Tagged With ‘ insurance ’

With climate change creating more storms and natural disasters, insurance companies are facing unprecedented claims. They’re reacting with raising prices and refusing to offer coverage in some areas of high storm activities. Policyholders are entitled to receive their claims payments under the terms of their insurance policies, and insurers shouldn’t delay or mistreat consumers. Many victims of Hurricane Idalia will be underinsured and uninsured for flood damage. There will be big fights over whether the damage was caused by wind, covered in a home policy, versus flooding, excluded in... Continue Reading

Big storms across the country brought on by climate change are causing havoc. You may have received a notice from your insurer dropping your home insurance policy. Or, unexpected surges in the cost of your coverage can put a strain on your budget especially in these days of inflation. This is stressful as not having the right amount and type of insurance can make your home more difficult to sell. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers the following suggestions for homeowners facing new decisions about insurance, often with limited time to consider complicated options. Choosing insurance Your... Continue Reading

Consumers with poor credit pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars more every year for basic auto insurance coverage required by state laws, new report shows. “On average, a consumer with poor credit has to pay twice as much for auto insurance as a driver with excellent credit, even if everything else, including their driving safety history, are the same,” said Douglas Heller, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America and the study’s co-author. The report found that nationwide, American consumers with clean driving records and excellent credit pay an average annual... Continue Reading

USASF Servicing is being charged with illegal practices that harmed consumers with auto loans including disabling borrowers’ vehicles, improperly repossessing vehicles, double-billing borrowers for insurance premiums, and failing to return millions of dollars in refunds, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday . With its lawsuit, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to return money to consumers, impose civil penalties, and stop any future violations. “The CFPB is suing USASF for a range of misconduct, including illegally activating devices that prevented borrowers from starting... Continue Reading

Photo: Dwight Burdette Farmers Insurance began limiting the sale of new homeowners insurance policies in California on July 3, the company, a subsidiary of the Zurich Insurance Group, announced Friday. Farmers is the No. 2 homeowners insurer in California. Farmers’ action follows American International Group’s curbing homeowners insurance sales for owners at high risk of floods, storms, or wildfires in 200 U.S. zip codes; State Farm’s halting the sale of insurance coverage to all homeowners in California; and Allstate’s stopping the sale of new home, condominium, and commercial insurance... Continue Reading

Photo: Filip Maljković American International Group is planning to curb homeowners insurance sales for owners at high risk of floods, storms, or wildfires in 200 zip codes across the United States, according to a report in the Wall St Journal. AIG is the third major insurer in recently to announce cuts to homeowners insurance.  “AIG’s actions are shameful,” David Arkush, director of Public Citizen’s Climate program. “It is a top global insurer of oil and gas  — meaning that, more than most insurers on the planet, it is contributing to and profiting from the very climate harms that... Continue Reading

Either I missed the Public Citizen report on the toll private equity is taking on U.S. health care or I didn’t understand the significance of it. The report, released in March 2023, says private equity takeovers have come with shocking lapses in safety, with prices rising faster than at non-private equity acquired entities, while patients have been subjected to price gouging schemes. Private equity acquisitions in the health care sector have climbed since the financial crisis in 2009, particularly in the past five years. Unlike acquisitions of hospitals, which usually occur under with public... Continue Reading

No. What ended on Thursday was the covid health emergency on public health and safety measures in the United States. In addition, the World Health Organization recently ended the covid related global health emergency. The U.S. ended the covid health emergency because Republicans would no longer support funding for it. What does the end of the public health emergency mean for you? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers this list of changes: Vaccines will remain available. Access to covid-19 vaccines will generally not be affected for now. The U.S. government is currently distributing... Continue Reading

Photo: Hudconja A settlement shows that another huge, well-known corporation has engaged in deceptive practices in how it treats its customers. Prudential Financial denied more than 200 life insurance claims although the company collected life insurance premiums from participants for extended periods, the U.S. Department of Labor said Wednesday. Prudential offered group life insurance policies to businesses that allowed plan participants to opt for payroll deductions to pay for additional, supplemental coverage. For this type of insurance, the insured is required to fill out a form indicating... Continue Reading

I missed writing about Medicare Advantage plans during open enrollment from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 when you can join, switch, or drop a plan. I always know when it occurs: my mail box and email are flooded with ads and TV and social media, too. I also get phone calls about the plans. The TV ads this year featured two African American women getting really excited about zero premiums. This is a deception, as I’ll get to later. There also was a guy sitting at a table at my local Safeway. Apparently, he had a deal with the Safeway corporate office to sell Medicare Advantage plans inside the store. I... Continue Reading