• Insurance companies hire private businesses to proactively protect properties from wildfires.
• The CEO of one company told BI its strategies include using fire-blocking gel and cleaning gutters.
• He said companies like his can help solve the insurance crisis, as they focus only on economic loss.

Insurance companies are hiring private firms to protect customer properties before wildfires roll in by taking measures such as applying protective gels and removing combustibles to try to fire-proof structures.

David Torgerson is the CEO of Wildfire Defense Systems, a private company that contracts with insurance carriers to protect homes and businesses from fires like those ripping through Southern California. He said that Wildfire Defense Systems works exclusively with insurers, partnering with dozens of carriers across 22 states to protect structures.

"We are typically working hours in advance, or days in advance of the fire passing over a property, and we call that the presuppression," he told Business Insider. "We're preparing the property to survive the amount of time that the fire is in proximity to the structure, and then we quickly come back in after the fire is passed to secure the property."

He said that his employees — who, unlike first responders, are not focused on saving lives or containing the blaze — are "actively working" to help battle the fires in Southern California.

In addition to applying fire-blocking gels and getting rid of flammable materials, Wildfire Defense System's strategies include cleaning gutters and operating sprinkler systems, a company fact sheet says. The famed Getty Villa has so far survived this week's blaze in part because of similar fire-mitigation efforts.

Once a fire passes through a neighborhood, company personnel will return to insured homes to put out any simmering spot fires and assess other risks, Torgerson said. By law, his company can only protect homes covered by insurance policies that include its services, he said.

In recent years, insurance companies have cut back on coverage in California, largely because of wildfire risk. In 2023, State Farm said it was no longer accepting new homeowner insurance applications in the state. It also ended coverage for 72,000 homes and apartments last year, including some in the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood devastated by the most recent blazes.

Preliminary estimates have put insured losses at more than $20 billion, a record high for California. Real estate and insurance experts previously told BI that the current wildfires will likely exacerbate the state's insurance crisis.

Torgerson said that qualified insurance resources like his are part of the solution to coverage woes because they mainly try to mitigate the economic cost of a fire.

"Our job really is to help policyholders and insurance carriers keep insurance available in the marketplace," he said. "If wildfires are going to get steadily more intense and more frequent, the scale of our operations have increased."

With some of the nation's wealthiest ZIP codes on fire — in Pacific Palisades, for example, the average home price is $4.5 million, per Realtor.com — controversy has erupted around who has access to fire safety resources. When a Los Angeles-based investor and self-described entrepreneur posted a request on his X account to hire private firefighters for his home, many responded with outrage in the comments. The user, Keith Wasserman, has since suspended his X account.

Torgerson told BI that his services are very different from private firefighters, who he said comprise a tiny sliver of the market. Wildfire Defense Systems does not have contact with individual homeowners and protects properties based on risk, not home value. He also said his employees meet all the training requirements of the National Wildlife Coordinating Group and are members of the firefighters union.

"It only really comes up when the fires are occurring in Southern California, the LA basin," he said of private firefighters, who he said are not subject to the same training. Torgerson said his services are part of standard insurance policies with the affiliated companies, though he declined to disclose which insurers use his services.

In 2021, State Farm said in a press release that it was partnering with Wildfire Defense Systems and the service would be added to all non-tenant homeowner policies in California, Arizona, and Washington. Chubb also partners with Wildfire Defense Systems in California and other states, according to its website, and says that policyholders can opt to enroll in the protective services.

Representatives from State Farm and Chubb did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

Raging brush fires in California are causing mass destruction, exacerbating the state's home insurance crisis.

• Thousands of LA County homeowners face a volatile home insurance market.
• In recent months, State Farm — California's largest home insurer — dropped thousands of policyholders.
• Some have turned to the state's insurer of last resort.

Thousands of California homeowners at risk due to the Los Angeles County fires find themselves exposed in a volatile home insurance market.

Last year, California's largest home insurer — State Farm — canceled thousands of policyholders' plans across LA County, including the Pacific Palisades and parts of Santa Monica and Calabasas, that are under evacuation orders and warnings as the fires rage. Nearly 70% of State Farm policyholders in the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood were dropped by the company beginning in July 2024.

The following table shows the ZIP codes that were under evacuation orders or warnings as of Wednesday afternoon that had the highest rate of nonrenewals from State Farm last year.

Several other major insurers have dramatically restricted their coverage across California in recent years, citing surging costs from more frequent and intense disasters coupled with rising home repair costs and inflation.

Thousands of LA County homeowners who haven't been able to obtain private insurance have joined the ranks of those covered by the state's insurer of last resort — the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plan. The FAIR plan is regulated by the state government and backed by a slew of private insurance companies. But its premiums tend to be much higher than typical private insurers and its coverage is often more restricted.

This table shows how FAIR insurance coverage has changed in the above ZIP codes between 2023 and 2024.

As private insurers have stepped back in recent years, the number of residential FAIR plan holders across the state jumped 123% between September 2020 and September 2024. The FAIR plan's dollar-value residential exposure surged from $271 billion in September 2023 to $431 billion in September 2024.

It's not clear how many homeowners impacted by the LA County fires are uninsured. Most mortgage lenders require homeowners to purchase insurance, and some require additional insurance for specific disasters, including fires.

Some major home insurers, including Farmer's — the second-largest in California — have recently begun to expand their offerings in California after the state announced new regulations requiring insurers to cover a certain percentage of homes vulnerable to fire in exchange for allowing them to use future risk modeling to calculate premiums.

In 2023, California had the fourth-highest home insurance nonrenewal rate among states, according to a recently released Senate Budget Committee report. Six of the top 10 counties in the country with the highest rates of nonrenewals by large home insurers in 2023 were in California, the report found.

But rising home insurance costs and rates of dropped policies are nationwide problems. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently reported that average home insurance premiums spiked by 13%, adjusted for inflation, between 2020 and 2023. The share of home insurance policies from large insurers that weren't renewed increased last year in 46 states, the Senate report found. And more than 200 US counties saw their non-renewal rates spike threefold between 2018 and 2023.

Areas more vulnerable to disasters, including flooding, wildfires, and hurricanes, have seen the biggest spikes in premiums and dropped policies.

"Our number one priority right now is the safety of our customers, agents and employees impacted by the fires and assisting our customers in the midst of this tragedy," a representative for State Farm told BI.

A representative from the California FAIR Plan Association also told BI in a statement that the insurer is "prepared" to handle the wildfire impact, and "has payment mechanisms in place, including reinsurance, to ensure all covered claims are paid."

Representatives for Farmer's did not respond for comment.

Have you been dropped by your home insurance company or are you facing a steep premium increase? Email this reporter to share your story: [email protected].

• Some homes affected by the Los Angeles wildfires might not have insurance.
• Insurers have been canceling plans and declining to sign new ones in the state.
• Years of worsening wildfires have increased payouts and other costs for insurers in California.

As wildfires destroy homes in Los Angeles, some homeowners might face rebuilding without insurance payouts.

That's because some insurance companies have been cutting back on their business in California in recent years as wildfires in the state have worsened.

State Farm, for instance, said in 2023 that it would no longer accept new homeowners' insurance applications in California. Then, last year, the company said it would end coverage for 72,000 homes and apartments in the state. Both announcements cited risks from catastrophes as one of the reasons for the decisions.

Homes in the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, one of the areas hardest hit by the fires so far, were among those affected when State Farm canceled the policies last year, the Los Angeles Times reported in April. State Farm did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Other home insurers have dropped coverage in the state, even in areas where the wildfire risk is low, NBC Bay Area reported in September.

"When insurance companies face higher losses or payouts, they typically respond in two ways: raise premium prices and stop renewing policies or writing new policies," Dave Jones, the director of the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Law said in a September Q&A posted to the university's website. "California insurers are doing both."

Between 2011 and 2018, Jones was also California's insurance commissioner.

A new rule, set to take effect about a month into 2025, will require home insurers to offer coverage in areas at high risk of fire, the Associated Press reported in December. Ricardo Lara, California's insurance commissioner, announced the rule just days before the Los Angeles fires broke out.

At a press conference on Wednesday, one reporter asked Lindsey Horvath, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, whether the Los Angeles fires would affect insurance companies' operations in California.

"I believe it already has, and the conversation is ongoing," Horvath said.

• Stella Shon experienced burn-like wounds all over her body from an allergic reaction to medication.
• One insurance provider paid almost $900K for the ICU. Her follow-up claims have been rejected.
• Shon has paid over $20,000 out of pocket for related medical expenses since her hospitalization.

Editor's note: Business Insider has verified all medical expenses and payments mentioned in this article.

I'll never forget the day I opened my UnitedHealthcare app and saw nearly $900,000 in hospital charges.

In August 2022, what started as flu-like symptoms rapidly escalated into a life-threatening emergency, and I was diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a rare, severe allergic reaction to medication.

After taking over-the-counter pain relievers and antibiotics, a rash spread across my body, and I was rushed to the ER with burn-like wounds, requiring immediate intubation in the burn ICU.

Nearly a month later, I was discharged from the hospital. It was a turning point in my life — not because I'd survived the ICU, but because the battle was far from over.

Long-term complications come with a cost

Over 26 harrowing days in the hospital, I lost my vision and developed raw wounds from my head to my torso. Just as my condition began to improve, I developed sepsis. Ironically, the treatment included a monthlong course of IV antibiotics — the same type of medication that likely triggered this nightmare.

In the first year of my illness, I attended over 50 follow-up appointments with specialists in ophthalmology, dermatology, gynecology, and infectious diseases and received a deluge of medical bills.

Overall, I was extremely fortunate that UHC fully covered the $885,855 cost of my hospital stay, except for my $5,100 out-of-pocket maximum. However, my ICU stay was only the beginning of the costs I would face in managing the long-term complications of the disease.

Prior to this incident, I had a flawless medical record. In the two years since I left the ICU, I've spent an average of $8,500 a year on health insurance, $11,000 on lenses to protect my damaged corneas, $1,400 on prescription eye drops, $3,000 on glaucoma surgery, and more than $5,000 on follow-up appointments with various specialists.

Item	Out-of-Pocket Cost (2023-2024)
Health Insurance Premium	$17,000
Scleral Lenses	$11,000
Prescription Eye Drops	$1,400
Glaucoma Surgery	$3,000
Follow-up Appointments	$5,000

I've realized the cost of ongoing medical appointments and necessary treatments will become a lifelong financial burden.

My eyes were permanently damaged

Two weeks into my ICU stay, which happened to be my 24th birthday, I was taken off of a ventilator. I vividly recall the first time I tried to open my eyes and had to shut them immediately due to unbearable, searing pain. The condition left permanent scars on my corneas and meibomian glands, which are responsible for tear production. As my vision gradually returned — a miracle in itself, given that many SJS survivors lose their sight permanently — my doctor delivered a sobering prognosis: The damage to my eyes was permanent, with little hope for improvement.

I refused to give up on my eyesight. Fortunately, my cornea specialist referred me to an optometrist who offered a glimmer of hope: scleral lenses. Unlike regular contact lenses, these dome-shaped lenses are filled with saline, creating a protective fluid layer over the eye. This design helps treat corneal and ocular surface conditions like SJS and costs $11,000 for both eyes.

In addition to the initial cost for the lenses, there were ongoing expenses to consider. Supplies, such as preservative-free saline and cleaning solutions, added about $100 a month to my budget.

Insurance providers denied coverage for my treatment

The next hurdle? UnitedHealthcare did not consider these lenses a medically necessary emergency and denied coverage. If I wanted a chance at reclaiming my life, I had to shoulder the entire cost up front.

I called customer service many times to appeal my claim, with documented proof from my optometrist and the cornea specialists who treated me, saying I needed these scleral lenses. Weeks passed, and I remained in pain. I felt my only choice was to pay for the full cost of the lenses while continuing to fight my insurance — ultimately without success.

It's not just a UnitedHealthcare issue, though. I've submitted five insurance claims related to my eyes, specialty contact lenses, prescriptions, and burn scars to various other insurance providers, and they've all been denied.

Claims	Results
Scleral Lenses	Denied
Prescription Eye Drops	Denied
Laser Treatment	Denied
Glaucoma Surgery	Denied
Scleral Lenses (second attempt)	Denied

My friends created a GoFundMe to help me cover living and medical expenses

I'm deeply grateful for the support of my best friends, who stood by my side every day in the ICU and started a GoFundMe while I was intubated. This fund became a crucial lifeline, covering my out-of-pocket maximum and the cost of the life-altering scleral lenses that now allow me to live a relatively normal life.

The financial strain was unimaginable and extended far beyond medical bills — rent payments, along with other living expenses, continued to pile up.

I spent a few months on long-term disability leave before leaving my corporate job by the end of the year. At the beginning of 2023, I shifted to a freelance writing and editing career instead, which afforded me greater flexibility to attend follow-up appointments and address my long-term needs. The main drawback, however, was losing employer-sponsored health insurance.

I'm self-employed now, and it's clear the healthcare system needs to change

My experience raised the question of whether coverage denials are specific to certain insurance companies or indicative of a broader systemic issue.

I'm now a self-employed writer and no longer have employer-sponsored insurance through UnitedHealthcare. Over the past few years, I've been covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and now the University of Utah Health Plans through the Affordable Care Act, which comes with substantial out-of-pocket costs. And I've continued to face coverage denials for a variety of reasons. For example, my autologous serum eye drops — which are derived from my own blood and provide significant relief for my dry eyes — aren't covered by insurance because they lack FDA approval and are labeled "experimental." I pay $660 for a three-month supply.

While most of the scars have faded with time, many are still visible on my face and upper body. Last year, I had a series of laser treatments at the dermatologist, each costing me $250. These claims were denied by my new plan — highlighting that this issue isn't unique to one insurer.

After my experience, I understand why so much anger and frustration toward healthcare companies has bubbled up online since the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. It was a shocking crime, but the conversations it has raised have helped me process the desperation and powerlessness I've felt in my two-year struggle to appeal my claims.

I recognize how fortunate I am to have regained my vision and avoided financial debt from my ICU stay. However, one thing is abundantly clear: Meaningful changes to the healthcare system are long overdue.

A UnitedHealthcare spokesperson sent the following statement to Business Insider:

Ms. Shon's plan was self-funded, and therefore, her employer was responsible for payment of covered claims. In assisting her employer in processing these claims, we requested information from one of her providers, but we received no response.

• Homeowners are increasingly being dropped by their private home insurers.
• Regions with the highest nonrenewal rates are most prone to wildfires, hurricanes, and other disasters.
• A new Senate report warns of economic risks as climate change destabilizes insurance markets.

Homeowners across the country are increasingly facing a stark new reality: they're losing their home insurance.

The share of home insurance policies from large insurers that weren't renewed increased last year in 46 states, a report released Wednesday by the Senate Budget Committee found. The increasing frequency and intensity of disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding and the rising cost of rebuilding have pushed many insurers to drop customers or hike premiums. This has left thousands of homeowners scrambling to find new insurance policies or joining the growing ranks of those going without insurance.

More than 200 counties saw their non-renewal rates spike threefold between 2018 and 2023. Counties in Northern California and South Florida saw among the highest rates of nonrenewals. Coastal counties in Massachusetts, Mississippi, and North Carolina also saw dropped policies soar. Manhattan ranks 20th, with rates of dropped policies rising from 1.25% in 2018 to 4.11% in 2023.

The national scale of home insurance nonrenewals was previously unknown because insurance companies are regulated at the state level. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners said not all states collect granular data about the availability and affordability of coverage in some areas. The association in March announced an effort with state insurance regulators to try to fill the gap.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse launched his own investigation into the homeowners' insurance market last year. He received nonrenewal data from 23 companies accounting for about two-thirds of the market. In testimony on Wednesday, Whitehouse said he demanded nonrenewal data because experts suggested policies being dropped were an early warning sign of market destabilization. He also said they correlated with higher premiums.

The American Property Casualty Insurance Association, a lobbying group representing insurance companies, said nonrenewal data doesn't provide "relevant information" on climate risks. Many factors, including a state's litigation and regulatory environment, factor into nonrenewal decisions, the association said.

The association added that more costly weather disasters, combined with inflation and overbuilding in climate-risk regions, are making insurance less affordable for many Americans.

Home insurance premiums are rising in many regions across the country. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently reported that average home insurance premiums spiked by 13%, adjusted for inflation, between 2020 and 2023.

Most mortgage lenders require homeowners to purchase insurance, and some require additional insurance for specific disasters, including flooding. Insurers refusing to offer coverage can hurt home values because homes that can't be insured in the private market are less desirable to potential buyers.

The Senate Budget report warned that the insurance crisis will get worse as the climate crisis fuels more frequent and destructive disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding. A destabilized insurance market could "trigger cascading economy-wide financial upheaval," the report said.

"The failure to deal with climate change isn't just driving up the cost of homeowners' insurance, it's making it harder for families to even find homeowners' insurance, and that makes it harder to get a mortgage," Whitehouse said in a statement to Business Insider. "When the pool of buyers is limited to only those who can pay cash, it cuts off pathways to homeownership—particularly for first-time homebuyers—and risks cascading into a crash in property values that trashes the entire economy."

Have you been dropped by your home insurance company or are you facing a steep premium increase? Email these reporters to share your story: [email protected] and [email protected].

• Unexpected medical crises have derailed retirement plans for many older Americans.
• Many regret not preparing financially for sudden medical expenses, while some wish they worked less.
• This is part of an ongoing series about older Americans' regrets.

Vera Steward, 64, earned over $60,000 a year at the peak of her career. But since having a stroke at 48, she hasn't returned to work and is just scraping by.

She's one of many older Americans who shared with Business Insider in recent months how an unexpected medical crisis derailed their retirement plans and what they wish they'd done differently. As of publication, over 3,300 readers between the ages of 48 and 96 have responded to an informal online survey or emailed reporters about their biggest life regrets. This is part of an ongoing series.

While many medical diagnoses are unpredictable, dozens of respondents, including Steward, said they wish they'd been better prepared financially. Their regrets include not being more cautious with spending or savvier with investments when they were healthier, not prioritizing routine medical appointments, not factoring medical expenses into retirement planning, and not having robust insurance.

Eleven said in interviews that a medical diagnosis at the peak of their careers led them to retire early, and as a result, they rely on federal government checks to get by.

We want to hear from you. Are you an older American with any life regrets that you would be comfortable sharing with a reporter? Please fill out this quick form.

Steward is one of them, despite having a master's degree and working since she was a teenager. After her stroke almost 20 years ago, she began receiving slightly over $1,000 in monthly Social Security Disability Insurance; she now receives $1,688 in Social Security after cost-of-living adjustments. Nearly half of her benefits go toward rent, and she only receives $23 monthly in SNAP benefits to help buy food. Some months, she decides between getting a haircut or buying groceries, and she's relied on her daughter for financial assistance.

"I've always been middle class, and now I guess I'm no class," said Steward, who lives in Columbus, Georgia. "I'm in this house almost 24/7. The only time I leave is to go to the doctor. I have nowhere to go."

Not prioritizing health in younger years and asking for what you need

Anita Clemons Swanagan, 59, wishes she'd spoken up for herself more during her working years to be paid what she's worth. While employed at prisons and hospitals, she was on her feet all day often working 12-hour shifts — in addition to second jobs as a gig worker — so she could raise her three daughters.

Swanagan injured her back and developed arthritis. She had a stroke at 45 and worked again for a decade until she had a second stroke in 2021, which affected her walking, speech, and cognitive functioning.

In addition to wishing she'd asked for better pay and more health accommodations, she said she could have done more to grow her wealth, such as saving more and giving less to others. She also wished she'd prioritized her health and took more time off while sick, but she said there's little use looking back on what might have been. She lives in her SUV in rural Illinois on $1,500 a month in Social Security before Medicare deductions.

"People think they have enough money, but all they have to go through is one major illness that could wipe out everything," Swanagan said.

Swanagan is one of dozens BI spoke with who are battling health conditions, unable to work, and relying on government assistance to keep them afloat. Because of their medical conditions, most rely on two federal programs colloquially called "disability": Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income. Many said it isn't enough to pay their bills.

SSDI benefits are based on your work history. In 2024, the average monthly payment was $1,537, with a maximum payment of $3,822 a month. SSI, which is allocated to people with disabilities and limited incomes, will be capped at $967 a month for an eligible individual in 2025.

Retirees' reliance on these programs has risen while the benefits have barely kept up with the cost of living. The average inflation-adjusted Social Security payment for disability insurance in December 1999 was $1,413 a month; at the end of 2023, it was $1,537, SSA data showed. While 3.2% of workers covered by Social Security in 1999 were disabled workers who received Social Security insurance, this rose to 4% in 2023.

And it's becoming more difficult to qualify for these benefits, said Steve Perrigo, the vice president of sales and marketing at the law firm Allsup. SSDI processing times have doubled over the past few years while approval rates have fallen to historic lows.

In fiscal year 2023, 61% of disability claims were rejected initially, while 85% were denied in reconsideration, according to Social Security Administration data and information provided by Allsup. About 45% of people are approved in hearings, which come after denials of an additional application and reconsideration.

Perrigo said he encourages clients to try to find work before, during, and after receiving benefits if they're able to.

"We see individuals who have to go through foreclosure and tap into their 401(k) and bankruptcies," Perrigo said of the long wait times to receive benefits.

For some, including Paula Mastro, returning to work isn't an option.

Mastro, who's 65 and lives on just under $1,100 a month in Social Security benefits, worked part-time in restaurants and catering jobs while raising her daughter and spent years as a full-time caretaker for her parents. She told BI she regretted working odd jobs that didn't provide a pension and not contributing to a 401(k). She also said it was a mistake to not properly document some of her income on tax forms, which hurt her Social Security allotment.

In 1991, Mastro received about $200,000 in a divorce settlement, most of which she spent on a home and car. She said often lived paycheck to paycheck and didn't prioritize investments.

Mastro developed back problems in the late 1990s after a car accident and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia over a decade ago. Earlier this year, she developed an inflammatory skin disease that prevented her from returning to work.

She said that last year, her public assistance covered only a fraction of her medical expenses, putting her thousands of dollars in debt. She lives in a low-income condo she inherited from her sister and barely has anything in savings.

"You expect in your golden years to be traveling, going on vacation, bringing your grandchildren to the theater," Mastro said. "I didn't do any of that because I couldn't. I should have saved up for retirement."

'Floating through life' with no concrete plan

Jan Lovell, 73, said she should have learned more about finances during and after her marriage. Lovell, who lives in Warren, Michigan, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2005. As the disease progresses, it further complicates her financial planning.

Lovell spent 25 years as a church secretary, earning a modest salary. She only contributed about 5% to her 401(k) and let her husband handle most of her finances. An unexpected divorce in 2004 put Lovell into "float through life" mode, during which time she didn't have a financial plan and did what she could to pay her bills. Over her career, she accumulated seven retirement funds she never combined, totaling $160,000.

She went through a foreclosure in 2010, and she worked for another decade until retiring in January 2020.

She lives off about $3,300 monthly gross income from Social Security pre-deductions and a pension, but medical expenses, such as contributing $3,500 for a wheelchair, have put a dent in her wallet. After a recent hospitalization, she's planning to move to a senior living facility that she expects will deplete her savings by 2027.

"Most places I've looked at now are $3,000 a month for a 400-square-foot unit, which is twice the cost and half the square footage of a regular apartment," Lovell said. "The 'assistance' is an additional charge, depending on needs, and I'll likely need the most expensive level, at about $2,000 a month."

Relying too much on the market

D. Duane MaGee, 78, thought he prepared well for retirement, but after losing thousands in the 2008 market crash, he regretted putting too much faith in the market — and hasn't touched investments since.

MaGee made six figures as a manager at Ford. He retired in his early 50s as the plant shuttered. He'd saved money throughout his career, though not enough. To compensate for his reduced income, he worked in security at a hospital and in hotel management.

His wife had a quadruple bypass surgery three decades ago, and he became her caregiver in between his work shifts. His wife's medications ate up a portion of their savings each month. The 2008 market crash erased nearly $80,000 of their limited retirement savings — much of which was his wife's inheritance from her mother — and he wished he had been more proactive about saving while at Ford.

MaGee, who still cares for his wife, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease six years ago. He gave up his retirement job shortly after the diagnosis, and they rely on about $62,000 a year in retirement income from Social Security and a pension. Meanwhile, rising inflation has made them even more cautious about spending.

"I don't know how I'm going to get savings now because we're getting a lot older now, and so we have things facing us now where we don't know where the money is going to come from," MaGee said.

Are you an older American with any life regrets that you would be comfortable sharing with a reporter? Please fill out this quick form or email [email protected].

• Private home insurers are dropping a growing number of customers in most states, a Senate report found.
• That leaves homeowners at risk, turning to more expensive last-resort options or going uninsured.
• While Florida has managed to reverse the trend somewhat, the risk to homeowners is set to intensify.

As Americans flock to places in the US vulnerable to natural disasters, private home insurance companies are running the other way.

The problem has left a rising number of homeowners with just one option to cover property damage: insurers of last resort.

The scale of homeowners losing their plans became clearer on Wednesday after a Senate Budget Committee investigation found that private insurers' nonrenewals spiked threefold in more than 200 counties between 2018 and 2023.

"What our new data reveal is that the failure to deal with climate change is also affecting whether families can even get homeowners insurance, which threatens their ability to get a mortgage, which spells trouble for property values in climate-exposed communities across the country," Senate Budget Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse said in releasing the report.

A recent study by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies found that between 2018 and 2023, the number of properties enrolled in California and Florida's insurers of last resort more than doubled. A similar trend is playing out in Louisiana. While Florida has reduced participation this year, it still has the highest enrollment in the country.

The problem isn't isolated to the most predictable states. The Senate Budget Committee found that the rate of homeowners losing their private insurance also rose in Hawaii, North Carolina, and Massachusetts.

Policymakers and insurers are trying to stabilize the private market, by enacting new laws and overhauling regulations. However, with scientists predicting that climate-fueled disasters will become more frequent and severe for the foreseeable future, the risk to America's homeowners is mounting.

Growing insurance risk has some states looking for solutions

In nearly three dozen states, insurers of last resort, known as Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, or FAIR, are available to homeowners and businesses who struggle to find insurance on the private market.

The numbers are rising because private insurers are pulling back coverage and hiking premiums in areas at risk of wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, and other disasters often made worse by climate change.

While state-mandated FAIR plans are designed to be a backstop, insurance regulators and private insurance companies are alarmed by how many homeowners and businesses are enrolling, especially in California and Florida. The plans are often more expensive and provide less coverage. Plus, saddling one insurer with the riskiest policies increases the chances of one major disaster sinking the system and leaving taxpayers and insurance companies with the bill.

Florida and California are trying to reverse the trend, and Florida has seen some progress. The state's insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, said on December 4 that its policy count dropped below 1 million for the first time in two years.

Mark Friedlander, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, said the drop reflects a series of changes in recent years to stabilize the state's private insurance market after more than a dozen companies left the state or stopped writing new policies.

The Florida legislature passed laws to curb rampant litigation and claim fraud that drove up legal costs for private insurers. Friedlander said insurance lawsuits in the first three quarters of 2024 are down 56%, compared with the first three quarters of 2021 — the year before the new laws were enacted. Citizens also started a "depopulation" program that shifts customers to the private market. State regulators in October said they had approved at least nine new property companies to enter the market, and premiums weren't rising nearly as much as last year.

In California, many of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires have occurred within the last five years. As a result, some private insurers are hiking premiums and limiting coverage in risky areas, pushing more homeowners to the insurer of last resort. The Harvard study found that policies in the state's FAIR plan doubled between 2018 and 2023 to more than 300,000. As of September, the California Insurance Commission said policies totaled nearly 452,000.

The commission is working to overhaul regulations to slow the trend, including requiring private insurers to sell in risky areas. In exchange, it should be easier for companies to raise premiums that factor in reinsurance costs and the risks of future disasters. That should help stabilize rates, said Michael Sollen, a spokesman for the commission.

Sollen added that in the past, private insurers could seek approval for higher premiums but weren't required to offer coverage in wildfire-prone areas.

"In a year from now, what's happening with the FAIR plan will be a key measure for us," he said. "We expect to see those numbers start to stabilize and go down."

A mounting home insurance crisis

Still, a reduction in state-backed plans isn't necessarily a sign of progress, Steve Koller, a postdoctoral fellow in climate and housing and author of the Harvard report, told Business Insider.

A growing number of homeowners in places like Florida, Louisiana, and California are purchasing private insurance from nontraditional providers barely regulated by state governments. These so-called "non-admitted" insurers don't contribute to a state fund that guarantees homeowners will have their claims paid even if the insurance provider fails, leaving their customers without access to this backup coverage.

"Someone could be moving to a private insurer from Citizens, and that insurer might have higher insolvency risk," Koller said.

He added that more homeowners are opting out of insurance altogether. The number of US homeowners going without insurance has soared from 5% in 2019 to 12% in 2022, the Insurance Information Institute reported.

Plus, Americans are increasingly moving into parts of the country most vulnerable to extreme weather. Tens of thousands more people moved into the most flood—and fire-prone areas of the US last year rather than out of them, the real estate company Redfin reported earlier this year.

As insurers of last resort try to shift more risk to the private market, home insurance premiums are expected to keep rising. That's especially true in the areas hardest hit by climate-fueled disasters.

If private insurers exit hard-hit regions en masse in the future, Koller said states might need to become the predominant insurance provider in the same way the National Flood Insurance Program took over after the private market for flood insurance collapsed in the 1960s. Most flood insurance plans are still issued by the federal government.

"My guess is states are going to work very, very hard to avoid that and ensure the existence of a robust private market, but that's a parallel that I can't personally unthink about," he said.

Have you struggled to get home insurance, moved to an insurer of last resort, or gone uninsured? Contact these reporters at [email protected] or [email protected].

• The richest of the rich can use life insurance to avoid estate and income taxes.
• Private-placement life insurance is perfectly legal — unless a new bill passes.
• A financial advisor tells Insider how the insurance saves the wealthy tens of millions of dollars.

Life insurance is probably the least sexy area of financial planning. But for the richest of the rich, policies can slash tens of millions of dollars off their tax bills.

Private-placement life insurance is a little-known tax-avoidance tactic. When structured correctly, PPLI policies can be used to pass on assets from stocks to yachts to heirs without incurring an estate tax.

"In the US, people sell life insurance as a middle-class way of structuring assets," Michael Malloy, a wealth advisor who has specialized in PPLI for 20 years, told Business Insider in 2022. "But PPLI is a completely different animal."

The PPLI industry enables a few thousand ultra-rich American taxpayers to shelter at least $40 billion, according to an investigation by the Senate Finance Committee. The report estimated that the average PPLI policyholder is worth well over $100 million.

PPLI is legal—for now. On December 16, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden released a draft bill to close the loophole. Under the Protecting Proper Life Insurance from Abuse Act, PPLI policies would be treated as investment funds, not life insurance or annuity policies, which would eliminate the tax benefits.

"Life insurance is an essential source of financial security for tens of millions of middle-class families in America, so we cannot have a bunch of ultra-rich tax dodgers abusing its special tax treatment to set up tax-free hedge funds and shelter oodles of cash," Wyden said in a written statement.

While tax savings are the primary draw of PPLI for US clients, those in the Middle East or Latin America are often looking to use trusts to conceal information about specific assets from corrupt governments, Malloy said.

"Clients don't want an organized crime ring bribing an underpaid tax official to get information on their family," he said.

US taxpayers are required to report to the IRS only the cash value of a foreign life-insurance policy, not the assets within the trust.

These offshore life insurers in jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands and Bermuda typically require at least $5 million as the upfront premium. Malloy advises that clients have at least $10 million in assets to make PPLI worthwhile. His clients usually hold at least $50 million in assets.

Here is how PPLI works

In short, an attorney sets up a trust for a wealthy client. The trust owns the life-insurance policy that's created offshore.

The PPLI policy premiums are funded with assets. The assets must be diversified — typically with at least five different asset classes — and can include stocks and business interests, as well as tangible assets like yachts and real estate.

Depending on the client's age, nationality, and other factors, the death benefit can, in theory, max out at $100 million, Malloy said.

If structured correctly, the benefit and the assets in the policy are passed to the children without incurring an estate tax. A 40% federal estate tax applies to estate values topping $13.61 million for individuals and $27.22 million for married couples.

Unlike with policies from US insurers, clients can cancel their policies without paying a massive surrender fee. The assets also grow within the trust tax-free. The cash value of the PPLI policy assets is held in a separate account, and this cash can be disbursed to the policy holder or invested. Investing in hedge funds is a popular use of PPLI assets.

But there's a catch. Policyholders have limited control over investment decisions. They cannot give directives to the asset manager to buy a certain number of shares in Apple, for instance.

It also requires a small army of professionals, including trust and estate attorneys, asset managers, custodians, and tax advisors. Since PPLI is relevant only to the ultrawealthy, few in wealth management or law are familiar with it.

"There's no questions on the CPA exam or the bar exam about PPLI, and asset managers are kind of skeptical," he said. "They think you're going to take assets away. Actually, the assets become stickier and get more alpha because the client pays less tax."

How the proposed bill would endanger PPLI

Under Wyden's proposed legislation, most PPLI policies would be classified as "private placement contracts" (PPCs) rather than life insurance policies. As such, any accumulated earnings and death benefits would be taxed.

The bill would apply to future and existing PPLI policies, giving policyholders 180 days to liquify the assets or transfer them. Insurers who dare to issue or reinsure the policies will no longer have the benefit of secrecy. To better enable the IRS to enforce the bill, insurers will have to report all PPCs or face a $1 million fine for each 30-day period that they fail to do so.

The bill faces steep odds of passing with Donald Trump's reelection and a Republican House and Senate. The insurance industry is counting on it.

"This legislation is an attack on all forms of permanent life insurance and, by extension, an attack on holistic financial planning," said Marc Cadin, CEO of trade group Finseca, in a statement. "We look forward to working with the new Congress and the Trump administration to advance policies to move our country forward rather than raising taxes on life insurance."

• Holden Karau works in Big Tech during the day and builds her startup, Fight Health Insurance, at night.
• Karau said personal experiences with health insurance denials led her to create the platform.
• The platform uses AI and machine learning to streamline the insurance appeal process.

Holden Karau works as an open-source engineer in California — but just about every day after work, she's building Fight Health Insurance, a free AI-powered platform designed to help people appeal healthcare claim denials.

The 38-year-old Canadian has worked in the big data space for years, previously holding jobs at every FAANG company aside from Facebook.

Karau told Business Insider that while she had never worked on anything healthcare-related, her personal experiences with health insurance claim denials in the US led her to create an open-source tool to automate as much of the appeals process as possible.

Karau said that she's "seen different healthcare systems and the trade-offs," and the Canadian version isn't "perfect either." However, she grew increasingly frustrated with the US healthcare system while seeking out trans healthcare in California and recovering from a motorcycle crash.

Karau said denied claims lead to "a lot of suffering in the world today," and those challenges led her to start working on the AI project to help dispute health insurance denials.

"I'm not going to put up with this anymore. It's time to fight back," Karau said she told herself as she set out to build the tool. "And I think that's probably where the name came from."

She told BI that a later experience navigating her dog's pet insurance pushed her "over the edge" and made her determined to turn the proof of concept into a consumer product other people could use.

"I was like, I've had enough. This needs to not just be like a curiosity," Karau said. She wanted to "make it accessible to the average person," which factored into the decision to make it a free service.

Now, anyone in the US can generate an appeal with Fight Health Insurance by inserting some basic information, uploading a claim denial letter, and, if relevant, their plan documents.

The platform uses machine learning to identify and confirm details, and a fine-tuned large language model to pull data from PubMed, Karau said. The company uses an in-house AI tuned from a base model from Mistral AI, Karau said. To ensure patients' privacy, the system helps anonymize information by removing names and addresses.

Once the appeal is generated, users can review and edit it before mailing it off — or have the company fax it for $5. Karau said she added the faxing service after receiving emails from users saying they loved the platform but didn't have a printer and it was costly to get it printed somewhere else.

"It's a little weird working on an AI project and then going on to eBay to buy fax modems," Karau said. "But, hey, what is life if not a little weird?"

With insurers increasingly using AI to sift through claims, Karau said Fight Health Insurance offers a way to "level the AI playing field." She said while she wants doctors to make decisions about medications and diagnoses, she sees an opportunity for more AI tools to be used in the grunt work of dealing with insurance. Karau said AI could be useful in following up with patients after appointments, whether it be for reminders about surgery or to submit an out-of-network provider form.

The company now has two full-time staff and a few part-time contractors. Eventually, Karau said she plans to monetize the platform by building a professional version for hospital systems and medical vendors, who are also "feeling the pain from health insurance denials."

"Doctors are just super frustrated with all the time they spend dealing with insurance companies," Karau said.

Karau said that she plans to keep the consumer version free, aside from the $5 optional cost to have the company fax out an appeal.

"I think that it's really important that patients don't want to pay to use Fight Health Insurance because they already pay so much," Karau said.

Since launching the side project in August, Karau said over 1,000 have used the platform to help generate an appeal, and a handful have reached out to her to share success stories. She said just the other day she was talking to someone whose back surgery was successfully appealed using Fight Health Insurance.

"Now they're looking forward to getting back to riding motorcycles next year," Karau said.

Exactly how many of those appeals were successful isn't clear because users get responses directly from their health insurers rather than through the platform. The company also doesn't store user emails unless users opt-in, Karau said, so it currently doesn't have a way to follow up with people to learn the outcome unless they choose to share their contact information. However, she plans to incorporate replies from the platform in the future professional version to better track success stories.

In regard to recent conversations about the health insurance industry following the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Karau said she understands the intensity of emotions surrounding what can sometimes be life-or-death treatment decisions made by insurance companies.

She also said there's been an increase in traffic to the Fight Health Insurance website in the wake of the larger discussion online about frustrations with the healthcare system in the US.

"I think consumers are hurting a lot in the health insurance space right now," Karau said.

• Over 2,000 older Americans and counting have shared their financial and other regrets with BI.
• Some experienced financial distress after losing their spouses to illness or accidents.
• This is part of an ongoing series about older Americans' regrets.

Karen Lauer's husband died without a will. On top of the grief of losing the person she loved, Lauer's finances were thrown into chaos.

She's one of many older widows and widowers who have shared their stories with Business Insider in recent months. They're among the more than 2,000 Americans who've responded to a reader survey about their life regrets. This story is part of an ongoing series.

Some widows told BI they lost substantial amounts of their household income or were thrust into complex legal battles for their spouse's assets.

Others regret not outlining a will, skipping a life-insurance policy, or not building savings before their spouse's death: "Having been widowed twice and left with three girls to raise alone, I wish I would've saved money for my retirement years," one survey respondent wrote.

"I hate living without my husband — I needed to prepare for widowhood while making the most of our last years together," another said.

For Lauer, sorting through the pieces of her husband's estate has been painful.

"Because we didn't have a will, I feel like I'm going through a divorce between my dead husband and myself," Lauer said.

We want to hear from you. Are you an older American with any life regrets you'd be comfortable sharing with a reporter? Please fill out this quick form.

How losing a partner can take a painful financial toll

Lauer, 64, smiles thinking about the man nicknamed "Cowboy Steve." She pictures him cantering on his horse at their ranch in western Nebraska, gathering a thin layer of dust on his leather boots.

Her husband died following an accident last year. Without a will, she said the local court told her that all of her husband's money and assets would go into probate, a legal process used to divide a deceased person's estate, typically among their blood relatives. Lauer said because the ranch was in Steve's name, not hers, she was required to move off the ranch during the process so the house could be sold. She said she's now experiencing homelessness.

She's house-sitting for a friend in Lincoln, Nebraska, but doesn't know where she'll live next. With limited savings of her own, Lauer said she's surviving on less than $2,000 in monthly Social Security payments. She said it's not enough to cover essentials or rent her own apartment.

Lauer's financial experience mirrors that of others. In fact, on average, widows have lower 401(k) balances, less savings, and a more limited monthly retirement income than married retirees, BI found in an analysis of individual-level data from the Census Bureau's 2023 Survey of Income and Program Participation.

The average monthly income of widowed retirees is higher than that of divorced retirees and retirees who never married. But at an average of $2,381 monthly, their income is still several hundred dollars lower than that of married retirees with a surviving spouse. The analysis looked at retirees' income from pensions, Social Security, retirement accounts, or insurance benefits.

Doug Ornstein, the director of wealth management at TIAA, told BI that losing a spouse could have "devastating" financial impacts.

"If the person who handled most of the money passes away unexpectedly or early, the surviving spouse might not have financial literacy," he said. "Or maybe the couple undersaved for retirement — that person has to figure it out themselves."

A report published in June by the financial firm Thrivent found that less than half of widowed women feel prepared to manage their finances after a spouse's death. Twenty-nine percent of women surveyed said they created a will with their spouse, while 41% said they had no financial plan before their spouse's death. The firm surveyed a national sample of 422 female widows in May 2024.

Lauer wishes her "marriage license came with instructions," she said. Steve died unexpectedly, and Lauer said she didn't have enough knowledge about the probate and asset-division process, or how it would affect her livelihood as the surviving spouse. She advises other married people to write a will and make a financial plan as soon as possible.

How to protect your finances if your spouse dies

Ornstein said there are a few key ways that Americans can financially protect themselves if their spouse dies.

The first step is creating a will and having regular conversations about finances as a couple. A life-insurance policy — which people can buy or opt in to through their employer — can provide further financial security to a deceased person's family after their death. Typically, people pay a regular premium for the insurance throughout their career and can name a spouse or children as their beneficiaries.

Ornstein told BI that widows and widowers should work with an estate-planning attorney, financial advisor, and tax professional directly after their spouse dies. He added that, when preparing for those meetings, it's best to collect as many legal and financial documents as possible: a death certificate, a marriage license, bank statements, tax returns, benefits paperwork, insurance policies, and a will.

With an attorney and financial advisor, widows and widowers should apply — or reapply — for benefits such as Social Security and pensions, Ornstein said. They may be entitled to spousal benefits or higher monthly government aid. He added that a surviving spouse would likely have to transfer ownership of assets like a house, credit card, retirement account, or loan to themself or another family member.

"Take things one step at a time," he said in a follow-up email. "It's normal to feel stressed, overwhelmed, and anxious in this situation."

Still, not all widows or widowers have regrets about their money habits, even if they're in a precarious financial position.

Looking back on his 48 years of marriage, Robert Berkeley feels good about how he spent his money. He and his wife, Lourdes, spent decades traveling, dining at their favorite restaurants, and hosting big family holiday gatherings in their eastern North Carolina home. After their respective careers as an intelligence analyst and a dental hygienist, the couple decided to retire in their 60s — living largely on their monthly Social Security checks and the few thousand dollars they had saved.

Twelve years later, in 2022, Lourdes was diagnosed with cancer. The disease was aggressive, and she died within a couple of months.

Now 78, Berkeley is struggling to make ends meet. He and his wife didn't have a life-insurance policy or robust savings. He said it's been difficult to afford housing, utilities, groceries, and transportation without two Social Security incomes. Berkeley receives a $1,650 monthly payment, but he's in debt and behind on bills. He's hoping the part-time security guard job he landed recently will help fill the gaps.

Despite his limited budget, Berkeley feels at peace with past spending habits: "We decided to live our life in our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, right up to hitting our early 70s," he said. "We weren't the kind to squirrel money away for something that might happen in the future."

The couple lived — and spent — in the moment, he said. He may not have much wealth left as he ages, but Berkeley said it's worth it for the years he had and the memories he made with his "darling wife."

Are you struggling with finances after losing a spouse? Are you open to sharing your experience with a reporter? If so, reach out to [email protected].

• Warris Bokhari founded Claimable to tackle insurance-claim denials using AI technology.
• Bokhari says denial is a major issue in the US healthcare system, causing fear about getting help.
• Claimable's AI-driven platform boasts an 85% success rate in overturning claim denials.

After working in the insurance industry, Warris Bokhari saw that claim denial was a core issue in American healthcare.

So around two years ago, Bokhari started working on Claimable, an AI startup launched in October that aims to fight claim denials for a growing list of treatments.

"It's no wonder why people give up," the Claimable cofounder and CEO told Business Insider. "If you're a rational person, you would say this model was not fit for purpose."

Bokhari was raised in the UK and grew up with two disabled parents. Unlike people in the US, his parents never went bankrupt because of medical expenses, he said. He went on to work as an ICU doctor in the UK, where, he said, there was "never a time" when a necessary treatment was denied to a patient. When he came to the US, Bokhari continued working in the healthcare industry, including a two-year stint at insurance company Anthem.

In the US, he said, "there's no guarantee" of getting the medical care you need. Insurance companies can end up feeling like an obstacle, and that dynamic has created "fearfulness" about getting sick and seeking out help, Bokhari added.

The insurance industry has faced renewed scrutiny amid the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. While the motive behind Thompson's killing is under investigation, many of the responses to his death online have disclosed deep frustrations with the insurance industry.

Bokhari said the company didn't support violence toward individuals. "That is not the productive solution," Bokhari said. "The productive solution is appealing."

Claim-denial rates have been increasing for more than a decade. The health policy and research firm KFF reported that 17% of in-network claims by HealthCare.gov insurers were denied in 2021. The same report found that 41% of appealed claims got overturned, though less than 1% of consumers went through the process. Recent criticism has also been directed toward insurance companies that can rely on algorithms to assist in claim decision-making.

Bokhari said that Claimable had helped file hundreds of appeals and that its success rate of overturning denials was about 85%. It joins several startups leveraging AI to improve the insurance process.

Patients start by describing their experience of living with the condition and what it would mean to get denied their requested treatment. The platform then uses AI to analyze millions of data points from clinical research, appeal precedents, policy details, and the individual's medical history to generate a customized appeal within minutes.

Most Claimable appeals cost patients $39.95, plus shipping.

Claimable supports claims appeals for more than 70 FDA-approved treatments for autoimmune and migraine sufferers, some of which may have been denied because of medical necessity or being out of network. In addition to faxing and mailing the appeal to the insurance company, Claimable also sends a copy to every regulator that would have oversight of the insurer.

"Regulators probably assume that these denial cases are occasional," Bokhari said. "They make big headlines, but they don't know that these very private tragedies happen every day in American life."

Bokhari said patients "have a right to be heard," and Claimable helps legitimize those patients' stories.

Claimable closed its seed round in March, backed by Walkabout Ventures, Humanrace Capital, and others. The company is a part of Nvidia's startup program and has a team of about 11 employees.

The ruling will keep many young adult immigrants, known as Dreamers, from accessing "life-sustaining" care, immigration advocates say.

• Health insurers are coming under fire for increasingly denying patient claims for medical care.
• Investors are rushing to back startups using AI to automate the complex healthcare billing process.
• These 10 startups are helping patients, providers, and insurers improve health payments with AI.

In the wake of the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare's CEO last week, public hostility toward health insurers has reached a boiling point.

After Brian Thompson was shot and killed in Manhattan on December 4, social media exploded in morbid celebration. Shell casings found at the scene of the crime reportedly showed the words "deny," "defend," and "depose," mirroring a phrase commonly used by insurance critics to describe tactics used by health plans to avoid paying claims. Suspect Luigi Mangione was arrested Monday with a note in his possession containing the line, "These parasites had it coming."

It's a reckoning for how healthcare in the US is paid for — or not paid for — as health insurers increasingly deny paying for patient care. UnitedHealthcare and other health insurers have come under fire in recent years for using algorithms to deny patient claims, particularly Medicare Advantage claims. Claim denial rates have been on the rise for more than a decade, and denied or delayed payments cost hospitals hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

A growing crop of startups think AI can help.

Investors are rushing to back startups using AI to help providers, patients, and health plans more accurately and efficiently pay for medical care.

These 10 startups are using AI to automate key parts of healthcare's complex billing process, from prior authorization to claims adjudication.

• Many workers struggle with choosing their health-insurance plans during open enrollment.
• Some healthcare companies are employing mobile apps and generative AI to help smooth out the process.
• This article is part of "Trends in Healthcare," a series about the innovations and industry leaders shaping patient care.

During open-enrollment season, Reddit users inundate the platform's forums on health insurance and personal finance every day, asking how to best pick from their health-insurance options.

In one post, a recently unemployed married woman in Texas asked whether she should enroll with her husband's employer or stick to COBRA, which provides benefits to people who have lost their jobs. Another married person requested advice on which coverage to pick if they're planning to have a baby in 2025. For an employee in California, fellow Redditors were a sounding board as they navigated dental-plan options, with costs ranging from $0 to nearly $440 annually.

Open-enrollment season typically takes place between October and December, and companies have their own set periods within those months. During this time, Americans elect their health-insurance coverage through either a private employer or marketplaces via subsidies offered under the federal government's Affordable Care Act. Nearly all open-enrollment selections made this fall will go into effect on January 1 and be set until the following season, with a few exceptions.

The process can be immensely confusing.

Employees are expected to look both backward and forward, said Dan Beck, the president and chief product officer for SAP SuccessFactors, a cloud-based software platform that oversees HR, payroll, and talent management.

He told Business Insider that employees are tasked with reflecting on whether they maximized their benefits in the past year based on how much they tapped into the healthcare system. At the same time, they must anticipate health-related events, such as having a child or a major surgery.

To complicate matters further, workers may move to new roles with different insurance options or their employers could change providers or plan options, forcing employees to acquaint themselves with new choices. The makeup of their families could change, too: As employees' marital statuses change and they raise children, they'll likely want to optimize their healthcare plans for those life stages.

On Reddit, people making health-insurance decisions try to make sense of the complexities. If they choose health plans mismatched with their needs, they run the risk of overspending in two directions: shelling out for a premium-coverage plan they don't really need or skimping on coverage and then experiencing an expensive life change.

Employees also need to keep track of life events that could change their coverage, including moving, having a baby, or adopting a child. There is a special enrollment period, outside of open enrollment, for those life events, but also a limited period of time to make the changes and retain health care coverage.

Increasingly, employers are encouraged — by both their employees and their HR-benefits companies — to share more easily digestible benefits information.

"What employees are telling us, overwhelmingly, is that they need help when they are enrolling," Karen Frost, a senior vice president at the cloud-based employee-benefits vendor Alight, told BI.

Some employers are partnering with third-party companies that handle things like payroll and health benefits and have built software with with clear step-by-step prompts — which can help workers be confident about their healthcare elections.

Young workers want more employer support in demystifying healthcare

In Alight's 2024 annual survey of 2,500 employees in the US, the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, 63% of workers said they felt confident about their most recent health-plan election.

There are, however, some generational splits in the data. In the survey, 70% of Gen Z and 72% of millennial workers said they wanted personalized support for navigating the health system versus just 46% of baby boomers.

Before the mass digitization of benefits elections, employers would hand their employees printed packets outlining their medical-insurance offerings and ancillary benefits such as dental and vision, retirement plans, commuter reimbursement, gym memberships, and other wellness programs. Employees would pick from that menu, largely without guidance or input on what they'd like to see as alternative or additional benefit options.

Though the paper-packet method is much less common now, the enrollment process can still be overwhelming to navigate.

Life changes, like moving to a new state or employer, or a company picking new insurance providers to work with can complicate the enrollment process.

"You have a narrow window to actually get benefits, and you want to be successful," Beck told BI.

Mobile apps and generative-AI tools aim to smooth out the open-enrollment process

To help employees sort through their options during the open-enrollment period, some healthcare startups are leveraging mobile apps and generative-AI chatbots.

Alight, for example, aims to learn more about employee preferences and the needs of their families through a Q&A and then make recommendations. Throughout this process, Alight's recommendations coincide with clear definitions of complex benefits, like a health savings account, which lets workers set aside pretax money for qualified medical expenses.

"Instead of just letting people make their own choice, we guide them," said Frost. As an example, if an employee were to pick a high-deductible health plan, Alight would guide them to an HSA and explain why enrolling in it may make sense to budget for potential healthcare expenses.

SAP SuccessFactors said it's not yet comfortable with offering suggestions for health-insurance elections, citing concerns about data privacy.

Instead, the company — which has customers including McDonald's, L'Oréal, and Delta Air Lines — said it's focusing on further developing its recently launched mobile app.

The SuccessFactors mobile app is targeted at two demographics: workers under 40 who tend to be mobile-first in nearly every aspect of their lives and frontline workers of all ages with jobs in manufacturing and other sectors where they may be without frequent access to computers.

SAP SuccessFactors is also using generative-AI chatbots to answer policy questions to improve the user experience. In the future, the company plans to use these chatbots to automate some open-enrollment processes.

To bolster the company's abilities to help employees navigate this process and other healthcare questions that may arise throughout the year, SAP earlier this year paid $1.5 billion in cash to buy WalkMe, a tool designed to provide real-time website navigation for healthcare, onboarding, and other employee-focused tasks.

AI-based virtual assistants are also becoming more pervasive in the open-enrollment process. Alight has Ask Lisa, SAP SuccessFactors is leaning on the company's artificial-intelligence copilot, Joule, and the HR- and financial-software provider Workday uses Wex, an AI chatbot that internal employees can access on Slack to get automatically generated responses to their benefits questions. The same tool is offered to customers but branded as Workday Assistant.

"We try to appeal to all generations and age groups," Ben Carter, the senior vice president of business partners and rewards at Workday, said. "Some people, the last thing they want to do is actually talk to somebody on the phone."

This emerging technology benefits employers, too. Earlier this year, Workday unveiled an AI-enabled tool called Workday Wellness, which integrates with insurance providers like Aetna and Cigna. It allows Workday's customers — like The Hartford, Guardian, and MetLife — to understand which wellness benefits employees are using and which ones aren't resonating so they can invest more strategically.

"It brings a nice story," Carter said, "to say, well, if I'm going to go invest another $20 million in my benefits programs next year, here's where I need to go, or here's where I need to double down, or here's where I need to stop investing."

• More than 58 million Americans have had packages stolen in the past year, per a recent survey.
• Now, one startup is launching a service to insure against porch pirates.
• PorchPals founder James Moore explains the surprisingly tricky math needed to solve the problem.

Following the largest day of online shopping ever on Cyber Monday, hundreds of millions of packages have by now reached doorsteps across the US.

But an untold number of those deliveries have also likely found themselves snatched up by someone other than the person to whom they belong.

Now, one startup is launching a service to insure shoppers against these so-called porch pirates.

"We want our service to be used by the consumer when they need us," PorchPals CEO James Moore told Business Insider, "You know, when those Christmas gifts get stolen, that or that Xbox, or that PlayStation, or that pair of Nikes that cost you $300."

The service, which officially goes live on Monday, covers up to three stolen packages a year or a maximum claim of $2,000 for an annual fee of $120. Customers link their payment card to the service and all future e-commerce purchases made with that card are covered, the company says.

As with any insurance product, there is some surprisingly tricky math that goes into putting a tidy number on such a messy problem like parcel theft.

Moore told BI that PorchPals used three separate actuarial teams working independently on the problem to reach a comparable risk profile. The teams represented some industry heavy-hitters, including Lockton Re, Pinnacle Actuarial Resources, and PorchPal's underwriters at Lloyds of London's Newline Syndicate.

Over the past year, more than 58 million Americans are estimated to have had one or more packages stolen, according to a recent survey from tech reviews website Security.org.

Of course, some households experience multiple thefts, and PorchPals estimates the number of stolen packages at around 119 million last year.

In an earlier trial in California, Moore said PorchPals users typically used the service for packages worth between $250 and $280. That figure represents an unfortunate sweet spot in the world of missing parcels: Shipments worth $2,000 or more tend to require a signature at delivery, and refunds for less than $50 can often be processed without too much hassle by retailers who want to keep their customers happy.

Once the value gets above a hundred bucks, police reports and other documentation can start complicating the picture.

The Security.org survey found the median package value that customers reported to law enforcement was $195, while the median value of unreported packages was $50.

Those higher-value losses can lead to a loop of calls to retailers, delivery companies, local police, and back again.

"At some point you've called everybody," Moore said.

Moore said shoppers may not realize how impractical other forms of protection really are in the case of package theft. For instance, homeowner and renters insurance policies typically have higher deductibles than make sense for a $250 claim. Credit card policies can have requirements that packages be reasonably protected against theft, he said.

From a risk perspective, Moore said the nature of package theft makes it different from other property crimes, such as how ZIP code crime rates can affect auto insurance premiums.

"It's not the ZIP codes that you'd think," he said. "In porch theft it's different. The thief is looking for high-dollar items."

Porch pirates may steal from all income levels, but Moore says some of the more expensive packages are snagged from wealthier doorsteps that might otherwise have "this aura of safety," such as gated communities or luxury condos with a concierge desk.

"The number of packages just sitting out there, just left to the open… I mean, it's vast," he said.