California FAIR Plan is running out of money; nearly all homeowners to help bail it out
https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/insurance-fair-plan-20040933.php
The California FAIR Plan does not have enough money to weather the impact of the record-breaking Los Angeles wildfires on its own. Instead, it will turn to private insurers for help — triggering a process where insured California homeowners across the state will end up paying part of the bill.
The California Department of Insurance approved the FAIR Plan’s request to collectively charge private insurance companies $1 billion in order to help pay claims, the department announced Tuesday. Without it, the FAIR Plan would have run out of money by March, according to the official order. It’s the first time in just over three decades that the FAIR Plan has turned to private insurers for money.
A new agreement, brokered last year by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the FAIR Plan, means insurers will be able to pass along half of such extra charges — in this case $500 million — to their policyholders. When divided up, the payment to individual policyholders is likely to be small. Without factoring in businesses, $500 million split up amongst the 8.3 million California households insured by the private market is roughly $60 per policyholder…
As of Feb. 9, the FAIR Plan received just under 4,800 claims from wildfire survivors and had paid $914 million — more than double what it had in reserves prior to the fire, according to the insurer… The insurer estimates its total losses will be around $4 billion. A Chronicle analysis of FAIR Plan data found the insurer represented roughly 16% of all homes in the ZIP codes in and around the fire footprints, compared to just 5% of homes statewide.
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