Issues with insurance can be tiring and exasperating. Not knowing where to get help to resolve the issue can triple frustration.
But California’s Department of Insurance is a place citizens can turn to for help.
“Imagine a family against an insurance company? Who’s going to win?” said Ricardo Lara, California’s Insurance Commissioner (pictured).
Lara says his department exists to help people deal with any kind of insurance issue that operates in the state.
“You have an advocate, a consumer advocate, that’s there watching. Make sure we keep them humble and we keep them honest,” Lara said.
Lara’s department ensured that auto insurance companies provide discounts or rebates to people stuck at home during the pandemic.
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“Some insurance companies were charging consumers as if there was no pandemic as if people weren’t driving less. The rates of accidents were coming down so I ordered them to give partial refunds back to consumers,” he said.
On insurance companies unfairly raising rates, Lara says Californians should not worry as his department must first approve it.
“The rates have to be approved by my department,” he said. “We have actuaries and very sophisticated ways to look at the market and see if it merits a rate increase.”
