OK…the Devil’s Advocate…coming up (reply in italics)…
- Mandatory Replacement Cost Value (RCV) Policies:
• All homeowner insurance policies must cover losses at Replacement Cost Value (RCV). Provided the policy cost is sensitive to the actual RCV date, where said date reflects the current date and not a replacement date prior or equal to the original construction date, AND, the replacement cost is derived from indiscriminate annual figures generated by averages from independent and non-governmental national building contractors.
• Insurance companies cannot offer or mandate depreciated value payouts, ensuring that policyholders receive the full value of their losses at the time of the claim. Provided that only the policyholders who enjoy such immediate payouts on demand pay any premiums associated with this mandated payout, without affecting other policyholders who desire paying lower premiums in exchange for not having this ‘mandate’ applied to them.
- Claim Caps and Policy Retention:
• Insurance providers cannot cancel a homeowner’s policy for submitting fewer than three claims within a 12-month period. Providers should NEVER have grounds to cancel claims because a claim was not made within a set time period. This is discriminatory.
• Protections against non-renewal or arbitrary rate increases without clear, justified cause. Very vague on suggested protections. Insurance provided justified cause even now, with rate increases…and if they do not, one can be made off the cuff to suit this requirement. Needs more clarification.
- Timely Claims Payouts:
• Insurers must settle claims in full within 30 days of submission. Failure to do so results in financial penalties and interest owed to the policyholder. This mandate does not take into account multiple policy submissions within a natural disaster area. For those who live in such areas, this mandate, which would require a sudden increase in reviewers and other human resources, should be covered through higher policy costs specifically to those policy holders who live within said risk area, without those additional costs disbursed to other policyholders who are not living in high risk areas and are much less likely to call for 30 day settlements all at once.
- Annual Documentation Requirements:
• Homeowners must submit updated photos or videos of all insured valuables during annual policy renewals. And insurance providers must also be given drone-flyover photographic data collection at the time of policyholder signature, confirming agreement that announced ‘annual’ flyovers are permitted in order to keep policy costs from increasing.
• Insurers must provide clear, accessible platforms for homeowners to upload and store this documentation securely. And the additional costs for maintaining this data storage, servers, administration, website, and infrastructure can be provided to those policyholders who select an upgraded (eg: Gold or Platinum Plan) giving them access to this documentation storage, while also allowing other policyholders who do not wish to access this service, lower policy prices that do not include website accounts related to storage services.
- Government-Owned Homeowner Insurance Program:
• Establish a taxpayer-funded, government-operated insurance alternative, prioritizing fairness and transparency. This is dangerous and brings the U.S. Government into the insurance industry. This will lead to even more fascism and corruption than we already have. We dont need U.S. Taxpayer-funded insurance doled out across America. Personally, I really don’t want to pay for someone’s high-risk hurricane home in Florida through my taxes, when it gets blown away, and I don’t want to pay for another government agency to oversee something that a free and open market should be providing. Most feel the same way, so this would be a hard sell for American taxpayers.
• This program will provide comprehensive RCV coverage, fair pricing, and protections for vulnerable homeowners, setting a standard for private insurers. It will never be “fair pricing”, it will be “subsidized pricing” and will actually run the other insurance providers out of business because they cannot compete while at the same time, provide all of the other perks and costs that you are listing as across-the-board “mandates”. This idea will simply turn the industry into a government-sanctioned insurance Mafia racket when all the competition dies, leaving only the criminals with deep govt pockets. The standard left for private insurers would be to avoid the sector completely because there is no money to be made in it.
- Increased Transparency and Accountability:
• Insurance companies must disclose all fees, exclusions, and potential rate changes in plain language at policy inception and renewal. Provided that there are no automatic “opt-in” agreements already in place that subject the policyholder to altered policy renewal agreements which fall outside of normal industry expectations (eg: policy changes that fall outside of one standard deviation of the norm).
• Regular third-party audits of insurance companies to ensure compliance with regulations. As long as the third-party maintains no connections with government agencies or contractors of government agencies, and that stiff penalties are in place where collusion and monopolistic behavior is discovered.
- Disaster Response Coverage Standards:
• In regions prone to natural disasters, insurers must provide additional protections, including extended living expenses and immediate partial payouts for urgent repairs. Provided that the increased expenditures associated with extended living expenses and rushed payouts fall squarely on policyholders living in said high risk areas and not be distributed to the rest of the nation, where natural disaster risks are lower.
- Enhanced Consumer Protections:
• Homeowners may appeal denied claims through a government-appointed independent review board. Provided that any governmental and independent review costs are placed back on those who have since or are in the process of seeking such appeals, and the cost is not disbursed to the American taxpayer.
• Insurers found guilty of predatory practices will face heavy fines and possible suspension of operating licenses. As long as there is no lapse of coverage for the policyholders, and said plans are already in place to transfer policies to another insurer in the event that predatory practices are discovered.
Hope my two cents helps. Thx. 