California insurance regulators target GeoVera Insurance, imposing fines and requiring the company to make changes to underwriting

California insurance regulators have taken action against GeoVera Insurance Co., providers of residential earthquake insurance, this week. Regulators took notice of the company after having received a multitude of complaints from policyholders. According to these complaints, the insurer’s underwriting procedures are not as adequate as they are supposed to be. Regulators have investigated the matter and found that the insurer’s practices were indeed falling short of the state’s standards. GeoVera will be facing major changes as regulators look to make the company more compliant with state laws. The insurer will…

Read More

California homeowners to benefit from new insurance regulations

New rules for homeowners insurance have been implemented in California to help to protect people when disaster strikes their homes. The regulations have been implemented to help consumers to make sure that they have the coverage that they need when they have been paying into an insurance policy and the time comes that they need to make a claim following a disaster. According to Amy Bach, the head of United Policyholders, following a large loss, people frequently discover that they don’t have as much coverage as “they thought they had…

Read More

California trade groups and insurance regulators settle two Iran divestiture

California insurance regulators and trade groups have come to a settlement over two suits regarding efforts that were being made to put pressure on insurance companies to stop their investments into organizations that took part in nuclear, defense, or energy-related work in Iran. The announcement was first made at the end of Friday by Dave Jones, the Insurance Commissioner in California. The lawsuits had to do with a controversial initiative started in 2009 by Steve Poizner, the previous California Insurance Commissioner, which threatened insurers with penalties and publication when they…

Read More

California awarded federal grants to make insurance rate review process more efficient

The state of California has been struggling to rein in one rampant rate increases coming from a number of health insurance companies. High rates are spurred by rising costs in health care and the state has been having trouble coping with the sheer number of rate proposals coming in. Short falls in the rate review process can, sometimes, put consumers at unnecessary financial risk. To help the state establish a more efficient review process, the federal government has awarded California with more than $4.3 million in grants. The California Department…

Read More