Comment by chrisplotz | Hacker News Reader

Comment by chrisplotz | Hacker News Reader

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Firstly, I'm sorry to hear about your community, that is rough and hope people are ok. And thank you (and your fire buddies - my cousin is a wildfire-fighter) for all your work to keep your community safe!

To your question on self insurance - it's a matter of risk and statistics. No insurance is less money up front than coverage, but you retain the risk which may or may not cost a lot. We give a quote everywhere, and we think it accurately represents the risk Goodcover is covering for you, but I concede it is more expensive than it used to be.

Something else to know - CA has a non-renewal moratorium in force for wildfire areas, if anyone is being cancelled or non-renewed in your area please check this out: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/20...

> CA has a non-renewal moratorium in force for wildfire areas

Thank you sharing the link as this raises a question I think you are perfect to ask:

What are your thoughts on this regulation?

Would it now, in effect, significantly increase premiums for everyone now that an insurance company cannot drop the high risk customers?

Feel free to email me as the answer might be not something you want to make public.

If you can answer, and I think the answer is yes, how much in hike in premiums would account for this regulation?

So, given the underlying risk, I think the premium for wildfire in CA will be going up in general with or without this. The moratorium on non-renewal only lasts one year, and really just reiterates existing law. Most insurers have been trying to adjust their rates long before this came out.

How much is hard to say. An old mentor of mine always said, "There's a price for every risk, but sometimes it's as much as the limit of insurance." That's a bit geeky but basically, as wildfire becomes more common, the models will adjust to accommodate. Community efforts to make their communities more resilient will go a long way though, like mentioned above.

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