Amy Bach is on the side of angels when it comes to fighting for policyholder rights. She is the Executive Director of United Policyholders which is the nation’s largest not for profit advocacy. She and her staff have spent considerable time in Florida educating the public and Florida lawmakers about insurance and sound public policy impacting the Florida insurance landscape.
Continue Reading United Policyholders Warns Floridians About Bad Proposed Insurance Laws
United Policyholders is the largest and oldest charitable organization serving the interests of policyholders. The photo above shows us with Amy Bach at Monday night’s Tee UP 2018 fundraising event for United Policyholders in San Francisco.
Continue Reading Roadmap to Recovery—United Policyholders Dedication to Disaster Relief
After a disaster, United Policyholders is always a good resource to review for policyholders and family members of those with a home or business affected by the hurricane. This non-profit organization has many programs and services that may guide you in the aftermath of a storm when stress levels are high, and you have many questions.
Continue Reading Hurricane Florence Online Resources Available from United Policyholders
Chase Mathis called me on Tuesday morning as soon as my plane touched down in New Jersey to ask if he could be interviewed by a San Francisco radio station about the insurance issues those suffering from the California wildfires were facing. He explained the radio station called and wanted him to answer certain questions about insurance issues facing California wineries and policyholders. While Chase is a young star attorney in the Merlin Law Group, he is also located in New Jersey and has not litigated losses in California. So, I said “sure, but be certain to pull all the research our firm has been doing over the last couple of weeks regarding this disaster before the interview.”
Continue Reading California Wildfire Insurance Questions, Claims and Recovery
Amy Bach of United Policyholders and Paula Palozzi, Associate Director of the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, Insurance Division, held a seminar at the First Party Claims Conference and called on aggrieved policyholders to file written complaints with departments of insurance. Palozzi explained that when insurance companies pay too little, a written complaint about a low paying claims adjuster may allow a new set of eyes to set the matter straight and call attention to the possibility of a market conduct study if insurers are repetitively making the same claims handling mistake.
Continue Reading Hurricane Irma Policyholders Should File a Written Complaint About Slow, No or Low Paying Claims Insurance Adjusters
Amy Bach of United Policyholders was honored as the Consumer Champion by the Florida Association for Insurance Reform. I was privileged to deliver the introduction for Amy as seen in the above video. Merlin Law Group has been an active and long-time financial and pro bono supporter of United Policyholders. We also applaud the efforts of the Florida Association for Insurance Reform (FAIR), led by Jay Neal.
Continue Reading Amy Bach Honored by the Florida Association for Insurance Reform
Truthfully, we asked Amy Bach of United Policyholders to help request an immediate extension. As the oldest and largest non-profit organization dedicated solely to advocating for policyholders, she has a lot of pull and respectful working relationships with those administrating the National Flood Program.
Continue Reading Federal Insurance Administrator Responds to Merlin and Provides Hope For Fair Claims Process
When you have a claim for property damage under your homeowners insurance, you should not be penalized by your carrier. You should not be slapped with an increase in premium or slammed with a non-renewal notice because you had a claim and had to actually use your insurance. Professor Jay Feinman, the author of Delay, Deny, Defend, has prepared a new report to help state lawmakers ban the practice known as “Use It and Lose It” and calls-out this harmful practice. This report is part of a series that my colleague Rob Trautman discussed in, Rutgers Law School and United Policyholders Launch Essential Protections for Policyholders Project.
Continue Reading New Report from Rutgers Calls Out Insurance Companies and Asks States to Help Policyholders
Rutgers Law Professor Jay Feinman was commissioned by United Policyholders to write a report on the issue of "matching" following property losses to residential structures. He summarized the issue of matching as following:
Continue Reading Matching Damaged Property of Residential Losses
Transparency is what FEMA officials publicly proclaim they desire regarding its Superstorm Sandy claims processes. They need to do a better job of getting that message out to their attorneys as evidenced in the post, WYO’s Want Release From Criminal Liability and WYO Attorneys Warned of Sanctions. They need to get that message out to their WYO partners as evidenced by a WYO company invoking the Fifth Amendment as discussed in Insurance Executive Pleads Fifth Over Altered Reports During Superstorm Sandy Hearing. They need to get the message out to the vendors who make critical opinions about loss and damage as evidenced in Authorities Raid New York Engineering Over Superstorm Sandy Fraud. Finally, those officials need to emphasize the necessity for honesty and transparency by those working in Washington as evidenced by a lawsuit filed yesterday against FEMA by United Policyholders.
Continue Reading United Policyholders Sues FEMA Over Withheld Sandy Claims Documents