State Farm and Allstate Pull out of California Homeowners Insurance Market

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Citing an increased risk of natural disasters, two of California’s largest property insurers, State Farm and Allstate, are no longer selling new homeowners insurance in the state. Insurers have been shrinking their coverage areas in California for the last few years, especially in wildfire-prone regions, but the latest moves signal just how much insurers are accounting for the increasing costs of climate change. We’ll talk about the impact on homeowners, homebuilders and would-be home buyers and how the state is responding. Guests: Ivan Penn , Los Angeles-based reporter covering alternative energy, The New York Times. Michael Wara, policy director for the Sustainability Accelerator at the Doerr School of Sustainability and director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program and senior research scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University Kimiko Barrett, research and policy analyst, Headwater Economics Ricardo Lara, Insurance Commissioner of California Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for Forum comes from Rancho La Puerta, a wellness resort in Baja, California, just an hour from San Diego.
0:07.6	Three, four, and seven-night summer packages include fitness classes, hiking, live music, mindfulness, and culinary adventures, featuring fruits and veggies straight off the vine.
0:18.9	Special rates and offers are available for summer stays and first-time guests.
0:23.8	Saver summer at Rancho LaPuerta.com.
0:28.3	Greetings, Boomtown.
0:29.7	The Xfinity Wi-Fi is booming!
0:32.0	Xfinity combines the power of internet and mobile.
0:35.2	So we've all got lightning fast speeds at home and on the go.
0:38.5	Learn more at Xfinity.com.
0:40.6	Restrictions apply.
0:41.3	Xfinity internet required.
0:42.4	Actual speeds vary.
0:44.6	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Leslie McClurg. I'm in today for Mina Kim. Coming up on Forum, it's now more difficult to insure a home in California.
1:13.9	Two of the biggest insurers are pulling out of the new homes market.
1:19.4	They say exposure to catastrophes like wildfires, plus the costs of construction are simply too great.
1:24.8	State Farm announced last month that it will no longer sell new homeowners insurance anywhere in California.
1:28.2	And just over the weekend, all state confirmed that it has paused new claims for the same reason. We'll talk about how the state is responding and what it means for
1:32.8	your future home. That's next after this news.
1:50.8	Welcome to Forum. I'm Leslie McClurek. I'm in today for Mina Kim.
2:00.7	Climate change is sparking an insurance crisis. Two of the state's largest insurers will not take on new claims for homeowners insurance, state farm and all state. The two companies say
2:02.0	climate change and construction costs are making it too expensive to do future business here.
2:07.3	Ouch. Today's panel will help us understand what this means for current homeowners, future buyers,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.