InsuranceRise

  Health-care payments company Waystar on Monday announced a new generative artificial intelligence tool that can help hospitals quickly tackle one of their most costly and tedious responsibilities: fighting insurance denials.  Hospitals and health systems spend nearly $20 billion a year trying to overturn denied claims, according to a March report from the group purchasing organization Premier.  “We think if we can develop software that makes people’s lives better in an otherwise stressful moment of time when they’re getting health care, then we’re doing something good,” Waystar CEO Matt Hawkins told CNBC. Waystar’s new solution, called AltitudeCreate, uses generative AI to automatically draft appeal letters. The company said the feature could help providers drive down costs and spare them the headache of digging through complex contracts and records to put the letters together manually.  Hawkins led Waystar through its initial public offeri...

  Real estate investor Robert Rivani  reportedly spent $27 million buying and renovating a luxury beachfront home in Malibu. After it burned down in the Palisades fire last week, he only expects a $3 million insurance payout. Real estate investor Robert Rivani spent $27 million buying and renovating a luxury beachfront home on Malibu’s famed “Billionaire’s Beach,” but only expects a fraction of that amount from an insurance payout after it burned down. According to the  Wall Street Journal , he was planning to list the five-bedroom mansion this spring for $40 million after buying it for $19.55 million in 2022. But the Palisades fire destroyed it last week. “What value do you put on an entire community where the land is burnt to a crisp, where you don’t have restaurants or grocery stores, gas stations or working power?” he told the  Journal . The Palisades fire has burned about 23,700 acres, and officials estimate 5,300 structures, many of which are expensive homes, h...

  ALTADENA, Calif. — Kwynn Perry visited her home this weekend for the first time since  the Eaton Fire  started. It's just ashes and rubble. "This is our bedroom," she says. "That is our bed, my antique bed." It's now just a blackened, twisted ruin. Perry and her family leased the home and always had renter's insurance to cover the expense of relocation and replacing their possessions. That is, until last year. "We were told nobody was insuring renters up this way. So, we had no choice," she said. With no insurance, Kwynn, her husband Brian and son Ellison are relying on FEMA and a GoFundMe page. In recent years, insurance companies have begun using sophisticated computer modeling and artificial intelligence to calculate risk in fire-prone areas. That led several companies to stop writing new policies for homeowners and renters in places like Altadena and Pacific Palisades. Janet Ruiz, with the  Insurance Information Institute,  says, "Th...

  The wind-driven wildfires burning out of control in the Los Angeles area couldn't have emerged at a more perilous moment for California's homeowners, as officials try to rehab what they concede is a deepening " insurance crisis ." "We were all thinking 2025 is going to be the year insurers regain their appetite for the market in California, but having this catastrophe hit us right out of the gate is really unfortunate," said Amy Bach, the executive director of United Policyholders, a California-based nonprofit consumer group. "Up until this latest disaster," she said, "we thought we might be turning a corner." The state Department of Insurance issued a new regulation last month meant to turn the tide of some of the largest insurance companies' refusal to take on new customers in California or decisions not to renew policies of current ones. Under the rule, insurance companies are permitted to pass on the cost of reinsurance to consu...

  California is battling not only wildfires but also looting, price gouging and challenges with insurance companies. Law enforcement officers have arrested more than 20 people on suspicion of looting in recent days. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna condemned the criminal activity, saying “it’s a despicable crime and you’re going to go to jail, bottom line.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Saturday he is doubling the National Guard presence to approximately 1,700 troops to combat devastating wildfires. The expanded response includes more than 12,000 first responders and 1,500 pieces of firefighting equipment as multiple blazes continue to threaten the region. The crisis is compounded by insurance challenges. State Farm canceled 1,600 policies in Pacific Palisades last July, representing 70% of their coverage in the area. In response, California has implemented a one-year moratorium on insurance companies canceling or failing to renew polici...

  Southern California residents facing losses from this week’s Los Angeles-area fires are beginning to confront their next challenge: filing an insurance claim. Though mainstream insurers garnered headlines last year for declining to write any new policies in the state amid growing fire threats, they still retain tens of thousands of pre-existing customers who may have been affected. And while public claims adjusters — who are privately hired by consumers looking to avoid insurance companies’ adjusters — are warning that it can take years for claims to be resolved, California residents do enjoy some benefits not seen elsewhere. The primary benefit is that all California property insurers must immediately pay out a minimum of one-third of the estimated value of a policyholder’s personal belongings, as well as a minimum of four months’ worth of rent for the local area in which they live. Still, insurance industry experts are warning homeowners to expect to negotiate between...

  Destruction leading to a total loss has already put a strain on a vulnerable insurance system where providers are continuing to leave the state. One expert said the fires may continue to encourage the mass exodus of insurance providers.