Insurance Claims at $9 Billion From California Wildfires

There are more than 28,000 claims for residential personal property, nearly 2,000 from commercial property and 9,400 in auto and other claims for the fires.

Insurance claims from last month's California wildfires already are at $9 billion and expected to increase, the state's insurance commissioner announced Wednesday. Because of this, many insurers have stopped issuing residential property insurance due to the risk.

About $7 billion in claims are from the Camp Fire that destroyed the Northern California city of Paradise and killed at least 86 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in at least a century. The rest is from the Woolsey and Hill fires in Southern California.

Collectively, the fires destroyed or damaged more than 20,000 structures, with the vast majority in and around Paradise. On Tuesday, state and federal authorities estimated it will cost at least $3 billion just to clear debris.

"As the claims get perfected, as individuals get access to their former homes and neighborhoods, as they dialogue with their insurance companies and share more information about the scope of their loss, we expect these numbers to rise," Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said of the $9 billion estimate.

There are more than 28,000 claims for residential personal property, nearly 2,000 from commercial property and 9,400 in auto and other claims for the fires.

That's well above the number of claims filed following a series of fires that tore through Northern California's wine country last year. Losses from those fires were initially pegged at $3.3 billion but eventually grew to $10 billion.

While the Camp Fire destroyed about double the number of structures as the 2017 fires, home values in Butte County are far lower than those in Sonoma County. That's part of the reason total claims may seem low compared to the 2017 figures, Jones said. Median home values in Sonoma County are more than double those in Butte.

Jones advised home owners to be cautious of "fraudsters and scam artists" trying to take advantage of vulnerable communities.

He also said its time for California to start rethinking how and if it builds in fire-prone areas. Ken Pimlott, outgoing director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, told The Associated Press this week the state should consider banning construction in vulnerable areas.

Jones said local governments may not be fully considering the long-term impacts of building in areas at high risk of fire, floods and rising sea levels.

Candidate for Insurance Commissioner Grew up Without Coverage

Sen. Ricardo Lara says he believes health care is a human right.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) — One of the candidates running for California insurance commissioner lived without health insurance as a child.

Democratic Sen. Ricardo Lara said he is the son of immigrants and lived in East Los Angeles as a child.

“As somebody who grew up without health insurance, I’m the only candidate in this position,” he said.

He added that he believes health care is a human right.

Nurses unions backed Lara’s bill to create health coverage for all Californians. It came with a price tag of $400 billion and stalled in the Legislature.

But his Health For All Kids Act now covers all California children with Medi-Cal, regardless of their immigration status.

He’s also worked on fire insurance. One bill, signed into law this year, protects homeowners by prohibiting their insurance companies from dropping their policies for the first year after a disaster.

“We see this happening all throughout the entire state,” Lara said. “Something we worked on in the Legislature, in particular in my bill, was to protect California homeowners from having their insurance drop all of a sudden after a major fire."

Lara also wrote an environmental bill that allows insurance money to be used to restore the state’s forests and wetlands and to protect communities from flooding and fires, wanting to "make sure that we're actually being smart about where we build," he said. 

The candidate said he plans to tackle an ongoing problem for the insurance industry, something that costs every one of us: fraud.

“We know that health care fraud continues to be a big issue in the state,” Lara said. “Worker’s comp fraud continues to be an issue that businesses continue to tackle across our state.”

As insurance commissioner, Lara said he would fight for consumers. 

“You know, I’m not a billionaire,” Lara said. "I’m just an average person trying to make a difference in the state. And for somebody that comes from an immigrant background, where this state has given us absolutely everything, it’s my honor to continue to serve.”

Steve Poizner is the other candidate in the insurance commissioner race. 

If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Poizner served as California’s insurance commissioner from 2007-2011. Back then, he was a Republican. Today, Poizner is running as an independent.

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