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The Journal.

Insuring a Home in California Is Getting Harder

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.25.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As wildfires increase in severity and frequency, thousands of homes in California have been destroyed and insurance companies' earnings have taken a hit. Now, two companies, State Farm and Allstate, have announced they will no longer offer new home insurance policies in the state. We speak to one homeowner and WSJ’s Jean Eaglesham about why the situation has escalated. Further Reading: - Home Insurers Curb New Policies in Risky Areas Nationally - Allstate Stops Selling New Home-Insurance Policies in California, Citing Wildfire Risks - State Farm Halts Home-Insurance Sales in California Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:07.0

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0:15.0

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0:25.0

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0:26.0

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0:35.0

Over the last few years, wildfires have been causing record levels of destruction in parts of the country.

0:42.0

California in particular has felt the brunt of the damage.

0:46.0

The fires have burned through millions of acres of land and damaged thousands of buildings, many of them homes.

0:55.0

I finally got to the house and it was just, it was gone.

0:58.0

The entire hillside and golfed in flames forcing many people to evacuate their homes.

1:03.0

There was some houses over there. This is completely devastated.

1:09.0

We've got to get out of here. Ashes are coming down.

1:12.0

Everybody says it was just stuff, but it was all I had.

1:19.0

As their homes have been destroyed, more and more Californians have had to file insurance claims.

1:24.0

And insurance companies say they've had to pay out tens of billions of dollars in these claims.

1:33.0

And now, some insurance companies are going to stop offering new home insurance policies in the state altogether.

1:39.0

State Farm is no longer accepting new applications for homeowners insurance in California.

1:45.0

All state has stopped accepting new policies in California because of wildfires among other things.

1:51.0

We spoke to one Northern California homeowner about his experience getting his home insured.

1:56.0

We're all nervous. You know, everyone in Sonoma County is nervous.

2:01.0

I don't know how many companies are going to stay.

...

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