LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Frustrated homeowners and consumer advocates gathered in front of Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday to call out California’s Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara.
They accused of him of lying.
As we’ve reported, his office says it’s allowing insurers to charge higher rates in exchange for writing more policies.
[RELATED]How soon could home insurance rates drop? 2025, says commissioner’s office
That protest happened as Lara met with lawmakers about his new set of regulations regarding homeowners’ insurance
“As all you all know, we have a homeowner’s crisis. People are getting dropped, people are getting run out of their insurance because it’s too expensive,” said Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog.
“My insurance shouldn’t cost me as much as my mortgage,” saidGigi Bannister, former firefighter and veteran.
Massive home insurance rate hikes and the percentage of wildfire prone area coverage were the center of the conversation.
Lara defends his plan and says he is creating an entirely new law and new procedures from the ground up in a record time.
He presented more details to the Assembly Insurance Committe about what he calls his Sustainable Insurance Strategy Plan.
He says this effort will stabilize rates in the state’s insurance market through a number of reforms.
These include increasing rates, relying on computer modeling and changing the Fair Plan.
[RELATED]6-year-old Tennessee boy denied potentially life-saving gene therapy by insurance company
The Fair Plain is a last resort insurance, of sorts for those who can’t find insurance in the traditional market.
Lara’s message to California consumers, “I have your back.”
But homeowners and advocacy group ‘Consumer Watchdog’ say he turned his back on them and made false promises.
“Unfortunately, Insurance Commissioner Lara has been worse than his sleep at the switch. He’s been in the back rooms making deals with the insurance companies,” Court said.
They say they were promised insurers would cover wildfire prone areas in exchange for charging policy holders more.
Bannister who lives in the San Bernardino mountains says that didn’t happen.
“My premium doubled. I figured at least I was covered if something catastrophic happened. But, that was not the case. In 2023, an ice dam broke loose from my roof and wrecked my deck. The wrap around insurer wouldn’t cover my $40,000 claim and then they cancelled me.,” she said.
“Four months ago, Farmers, our insurers for 20 years, dropped us, and our broker was forced to find coverage from what’s called the non-admitted market. These are insurers that are not regulated, so if they go bankrupt and we have a claim, we’re also out in the cold,” said Bruce Breslau, lives in Chatsworth in Los Angeles.
He explains last year they had 100% full coverage. Now, it’s been cut at half.
Lara says his new plan aims to fix all those problems.
According to Lara, Starting January 1, 2025, the California’s Insurance Market place will be open for business for all part of California.
But Bannister and others argue, those plans don’t cover all Californians.
“Insurance companies should be forced to honor claims. Otherwise, what is insurance for?” she said.
The proposed regulations will allow insurance companies to charge rates based on computer models, software and algorithms.
Those opposed worry about a lack of transparency.
Lara says there will be transparency, and his new proposed laws will regulate them.
Consumer watchdog says Lara’s proposed reforms read 85% of people in distressed areas will be covered.
But there are loopholes that could hurt consumers.
It points out these will allow insurance companies to cover only about 5% if comes down to it.
Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.