{"id":325957,"date":"2026-05-21T09:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/325957\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T09:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:07:13","slug":"massive-rate-hike-coming-as-california-insurance-giant-makes-staggering-revision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/325957\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive rate hike coming as California insurance giant makes staggering revision"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6397e08e0d69959fd583794b10efdec2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"eager\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" class=\"yf-lglytj  loaded\"\/>     <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">California homeowners in fire-prone areas will be slugged with an average insurance premium hike of 30% in October.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">FAIR Plan is the state\u2019s insurance program, which provides basic fire coverage for those in the California with \u201chigh risk properties\u201d that major insurers won\u2019t cover.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The program warned last year they were running out of money after paying out thousands of claims to victims of Los Angeles devastating Palisades and Eaton Fires \u2014 and it appears policy holders will now pay the price.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" alt=\"California homeowners with a massive insurance rate hike coming in October. Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" class=\"yf-lglytj loader\"\/> California homeowners with a massive insurance rate hike coming in October. Getty Images      <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The rise is the first for policy holders since 2023, when rates increased by 15%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Most of the 663,000 owners covered by FAIR will see their bills go up \u2013 but by how much will depend on where their property is located.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">\u201cAverage FAIR Plan rates will increase 29% effective October 15, down from the 36% requested,\u201d The California Department of Insurance told The Post in an email.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">\u201cBut policies available from large and specialty insurers in coming months create new options for homeowners outside the FAIR Plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Around half of customers will face increases of between 30% and 50%. About a quarter will actually see their premiums drop, in some cases by as much as 80%, per the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/california\/article\/home-insurance-fair-plan-rates-22268752.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&amp;utm_source=t.co&amp;utm_medium=referral\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:San Francisco Chronicle;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;San Francisco Chronicle&quot;}\" class=\"link \">San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The remaining quarter will see smaller hikes of under 30% \u2014 or much steeper increases ranging from 50% to as high as 200%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">\u201cThe largest component of the increase relates to the wildfire portion of policyholders\u2019 premiums, so those policyholders whose properties are at significant wildfire risk will see a higher increase than those at lower risk, and some policyholders will see a premium decrease,\u201d a FAIR spokesperson told The Post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Some are facing far higher premium increases than others, with homeowners in the Sierra Nevada foothills going from paying about $3,000 a year for coverage to nearly $6,000 from October 15, the report noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The FAIR plan, which does not cover anything other than fire for homeowners, admitted that those who will see the biggest hike in the fall are residents who have <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/18\/us-news\/altadena-residents-in-eaton-fire-zone-oppose-against-socal-edison-plan-for-expensive-underground-power-lines\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:homes where wildfire risk is the greatest;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;homes where wildfire risk is the greatest&quot;}\" class=\"link \">homes where wildfire risk is the greatest<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" alt=\"California FAIR Plan policy holders will see their rates jump up by close to 30%. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"719\" width=\"960\" class=\"yf-lglytj loader\"\/> California FAIR Plan policy holders will see their rates jump up by close to 30%. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images      <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">In May 2025, the President of FAIR Plan Veronica Roach warned lawmakers that it was running out of money over the thousands of claims it was paying out to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/california-wildfire-survivor-rips-insurers-231246177.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:victims of the devastating Palisades;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;victims of the devastating Palisades&quot;}\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">victims of the devastating Palisades<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/trump-told-secret-oval-office-223146013.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Eaton Fire;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Eaton Fire&quot;}\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eaton Fire<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc10.com\/article\/news\/local\/wildfire\/california-fair-plan\/103-28c72350-d832-4a3e-a640-969d3fabb785\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:ABC 10 reported;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;ABC 10 reported&quot;}\" class=\"link \">ABC 10 reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" alt=\"Those who will see the biggest hike in the fall are residents who have homes where wildfire risk is the greatest. REUTERS\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"639\" width=\"960\" class=\"yf-lglytj loader\"\/> Those who will see the biggest hike in the fall are residents who have homes where wildfire risk is the greatest. REUTERS      <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">\u201cWe\u2019ve paid over $2.9 billion in claims so far. Our estimate is that we\u2019re going to pay close to $4 billion total when all is said and done,\u201d said Roach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Roach even pointed out that the state had seen an increase in policy holders in low risk areas after major insurance companies left the state, refused to issue policies for new homeowners, or have priced people out of coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California homeowners in fire-prone areas will be slugged with an average insurance premium hike of 30% in October.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,135584,15195],"class_list":["post-325957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-policy-holders","tag-wildfire-risk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}