United Policyholders

ROADMAP TO RECOVERY(R) HIGHLIGHTS 2023 * Educated and assisted over 500,000 consumers on property, auto, health, disability, long-term care, life, title, and commercial insurance matters via phone, email and www.uphelp.org.* Provided significant long-term recovery services to help the individuals and families whose homes were damaged or destroyed at the end of 2021 from the Marshall Fire in Boulder, Colorado and the August 2023 Maui Wildfires in Hawaii. We also continued to offer long-term recovery services to people in western states devastated by wildfires in 2021 and 2022 and to people in Florida affected by Hurricane Ian in 2022.* Hosted 38 Roadmap to Recovery(R) workshops events across California, Colorado, Florida, and Hawaii with a total attendance of more than 2600 individuals across webinar attendees and Youtube recording views. The events included: 15 R2R Workshops, 16 Survivor to Survivor Forums, 2 Q&As, and 1 Legal Clinic. The majority of our services were provided virtually. The offerings included a mix of state-specific and general knowledge (i.e., Mechanics of Rebuilding and Taxing Matters webinars on what disaster survivors need to know about casualty losses and their insurance proceeds) to provide as much support and information, timed at key recovery moments, as possible.* Provided recovery resources, information and programming for people affected by many disasters across the country. These include: 2023 California storms which brought damaging floods, blizzards, breached levees, and widespread power outages to 46 California counties; 2023 tornadoes in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas destroying thousands of buildings; 2023 Vermont and New England Flooding where severe storms with damaging floods affected many states in the northeast with Vermont and New York particularly hard hit; 2023 Hawaii Wildfires that ravaged the historic town of Lahaina on Maui; 2023 Hurricane Idalia, a Category 3 Hurricane that caused high winds, major flooding, and significant damage to homes and businesses in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina; 2023 Washington Wildfires in Spokane County. * Provided individualized insurance and recovery support through our Ask an Expert forum, Q & A during R2R events and webinars, and answers to questions submitted to the organization through emails and phone calls. UP staff answered questions and processed consumer complaints with assistance from volunteers with expertise in construction, claim, forensic, and legal professionals as well as people with personal experience in disaster recovery.* Conducted trainings for employees of entities and organizations providing Case Management services to individuals and families across the country whose homes were damaged or destroyed by natural disasters, including the 2022 Hurricanes Ian and Nicole (Florida), and 2023 Maui Wildfires (Hawaii), a statewide Disaster Case Manager training series for the 2022/2023 California wildfires, and 2022/2023 California Winter Storms, as well as providing ongoing DCM support for the 2020 CZU Wildfire, 2021 Marshall Fire Long Term Recovery Groups, and 2022 Hurricane Ian LTRGs.* Distributed free copies of The Disaster Recovery Handbook and Household Inventory Guide and Roadmap to Recovery Organizers to catastrophic loss victims throughout the U.S. * Established and maintained dedicated online help libraries for victims of California severe winter storms and wildfires, tornadoes in multiple midwestern and southern states, damaging floods in Vermont and New England, Hurricane Idalia in Florida, Hurricane Ian, and the devastating Hawaii and Washington wildfires. These online Disaster Recovery Claim Help Libraries and our Claims Guidance Library received more than 311,000 visitors. Libraries were updated with relevant and timely information, including adding new tools, creating more curated resources for specific populations, such as other languages, renters, mobile/manufactured home owners, and people with partial losses/smoke damage.* Supported over 744 volunteers that serve through our Team UP volunteer program of previous disaster survivors and professional volunteers that support our programs, with 137 individuals volunteering 2,051 hours in 2023.* Distributed client help materials to NGO, faith-based, and government agency partners.* Expanded our national Find Professional Help and State-by-State Assistance directories.

ADVOCACY AND ACTION HIGHLIGHTS 2023 * Collaborated with the California Department of Insurance, CA Office of Emergency Services, & CalFire on outreach efforts to educate homeowners on reducing risk in compliance with the Safer from Wildfires framework and the Institute for Business and Home Safetys Wildfire Prepared Home standards.* Advocated for appropriate discounts and renewal offers for property owners that reduce risk.* Provided input to the California Department of Insurance in connection with the Sustainable Insurance Strategy, assisted in consumer education and outreach related to that strategy. * Supported the Federal Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act of 2023.* Provided input into California legislation related to Annuity Sales disclosures.* Supported the Insurance Protections for Oregonians Experiencing Disaster Act of 2023.* Supported Illinois legislation related to coverage for auto thefts.* Supported pro-consumer insurance legislation in Louisiana.* Opposed anti-consumer insurance legislation in Louisiana.* Continued collecting samples of new language appearing in policies across the United States that is creating coverage gaps and using them to advance UPs Restoring Insurance Safety Nets (RISC) Project. This project is aimed at reversing the erosion of insurance protection through policy language changes that reduce the amount of available benefits for repairing and replacing damaged properties. These wording changes and exclusions, designed to protect insurer profitability, are dangerously eroding the financial safety nets that homeowners are paying for and expecting to be able to rely on when disaster strikes. They are causing a ripple effect of harm to people, communities, real estate values, lenders, and ultimately, all of us. * Continued filing Amicus Curiae briefs that advance policyholders reasonable expectations of coverage in connection with business interruption losses associated with the Covid-19 and participating in oral arguments in state and federal courts of appeals and state Supreme Courts across the country.* Filed 29 "friend of the court" legal briefs presenting policyholders perspectives in both state and federal appellate and supreme courts, bringing the total number of amicus briefs filed by UP since our inception to well over 600.* Addressed audiences at numerous conferences and events on matters that impact insurance consumers. * Testified at legislative hearings and meetings. * Represented policyholders in the proceedings of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.(NAIC)* Represented policyholders in the proceedings of the National Conference of State Insurance Legislators (NCOIL).* Submitted support and opposition letters to State and Federal legislators to promote and protect insurance consumer interests in public policy matters. * Responded to information and interview requests from media professionals and was referenced as a source in more than 185 digital, print and broadcast media pieces.* Conducted surveys to gather data, analyzed and disseminated the results.* Provided consumers perspectives at professional conferences of actuaries, regulators, lawmakers and insurance industry representatives.* Issued press releases/media advisories and published research reports on a variety of important insurance issues.

ROADMAP TO PREPAREDNESS 2023* Informed California residents on how to find and maintain insurance on their homes through our Wildfire Risk Reduction and Asset Protection Project (WRAP), outreach and educational activities.* Continued a Cal OES Listos California preparedness campaign across 31 counties in California, many of whom were impacted heavily by previous wildfires. UP updated and enhanced educational printed materials to help homeowners and renters learn about insurance and disaster preparedness. * Provided climate change adaptation assistance to property owners by providing information on home hardening and mitigation.* Presented at 70+ events, hearings and public meetings throughout California to help educate homeowners and renters throughout California on home, earthquake and flood insurance and financial preparedness. * Served as expert presenters at disaster preparedness events throughout the country.* Leveraged UPs expertise in insurance advocacy and disaster recovery to help renters, home and small business owners take specific steps to protect their assets and build financial safety nets for disaster resiliency as part of wrapping up the 2022 Marshall Fire programming.* Distributed Wise UP: The Savvy Consumers Guide to Buying Insurance. * Created additional resources to help homeowners who have been dropped by their insurance company.* Translated 5 preparedness rack cards into Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, and Tagalog* Partnered with faith-based and other non-profit organizations to broadcast preparedness messages and distribute materials and tools.* Expanded resources in the Roadmap to Preparedness section of www.uphelp.org.* Participated in community-led and Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster meetings on the local, state and National level and formed alliances with other organizations.* Worked with vendors of products that improve home safety and increase disaster resilience.* Published print and online newsletters and monthly consumer tips.