State Farm’s Shady Reinsurance Deal
Annual reports for State Farm’s home insurance subsidiary in California suggest it’s sending profits out of state by overpaying its parent company for reinsurance. California...
Blogs
Consumer Watchdog Saves Policyholders More Than $53 million with 21st Century, USAA, and Liberty Insurance Rate Hike Challenges
Los Angeles, CA — Consumer Watchdog recently reached settlement in three challenges to double-digit rate hikes requested by 21st Century Insurance Company for its auto policies,...
Consumer Watchdog Achieves Increased Transparency, Enhanced Wildfire Risk Disclosures for Consumers in Settlement with Allstate
Consumer Watchdog reached a settlement with Allstate and the California Department of Insurance, resolving the company’s application with the Department for a rate increase of...
Insurance Commissioner Lara Certifies Consumer Watchdog’s Right To Intervene In Rate Cases
It should have been proforma, but Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has finally certified Consumer Watchdog’s right to collect compensation for intervening in insurance rate cases....
Lara’s 85% wildfire coverage plan morphed to just 5%
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s latest regulation to get insurers covering California again has another massive loophole. Insurers’ so-called commitment to increase sales in risky areas...
Commissioner’s Secret Cat Model Plan
Imagine if the IRS were allowed to base your taxes on its own “projections” of your income. And you were not allowed to check the...
Consumer Watchdog Urges Insurance Discounts for Homeowners, Protections Against Policy Cancellations and Withdrawals in Wildfire Areas
When disaster hits, insurance companies are supposed to have your back… but their number one priority is almost always their own financial well-being. We’ve seen...
Wildfire Recovery: Insurance Tips for California Homeowners
With 33 active fires and 3.6 million acres burned, including the largest in California history, tens of thousands of Californians have been displaced by...
Insurers Fail To Rip-off Homeowners
The legislative session is over. I am happy to report that the bad guys didn’t win. Insurance companies were not able to pass legislation in...
California State Legislators Use Coronavirus As An Excuse To Hijack Democratic Process
The following was originally published as an op-ed commentary in the SACRAMENTO BEE on August 11, 2020: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article244870462.html Three democratic procedures safeguard Californians against hasty and dangerous actions...
Legislators Scheming With Insurance Companies To Raise Rates
(The following was originally published as an op-ed commentary in the Mercury News.) With Californians in COVID lockdown, industry lobbyists are working to overturn voter-approved...
Ricardo Lara’s Troubles Aside, Reverting To An Appointed Insurance Commissioner Would Hurt Consumers
Where the troubling trail of accusations dogging Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara will lead is hard to tell. State records show that insurance industry executives and...