Earthquake Authority Policies

Re “Overhaul the Earthquake Authority, Before the Next Big Quake,” Jan. 14.

It was with utter disbelief and disgust [that] I read Philip Angelides’ article. It’s not so much what he says in the article but more what he fails to mention that so angered me.

As a resident of Northridge, I suffered greatly in the Jan. 17, 1994, quake. I was also very fortunate that I had an excellent policy, provided by one of the many insurance carriers. However, when state residents could no longer obtain these polices, we were given no other options but to go through the California Earthquake Authority.

Angelides writes, “I am urging my colleagues on the CEA board to join me in asking the state Legislature to reexamine the financial structure of the CEA to make sure it is fully capable of providing earthquake insurance to millions of California homeowners.”

What Angelides fails to include is the fact that earthquake policies through the CEA cost us the same as through standard insurance companies, but at a fraction of the coverage. To add insult to injury, a couple of years ago, when my annual CEA earthquake policy had to be renewed, my annual premium was increased by over 70% without any explanation as to why, and still at a fraction of the coverage I had before the earthquake of 1994.

Because of the blatant slap in our faces of the CEA and its outrageous, inflated premiums with minimum coverage, many homeowners such as myself found other options whereby we could obtain better coverage for our homes. The sad part is, the companies underwriting these policies are out of state and therefore, the money for these policies is also going out of state.

Is it any wonder, Mr. Angelides, “Before its [the CEA] establishment, about 2 million homeowner earthquake policies were held across the state. Now there are approximately 1.3 million, and fewer than 850,000 were purchased through the CEA.”

All I can say is do the math. If you provide substandard coverage with escalating, outrageous premiums and no explanations, is it any wonder that California residents are going to seek solutions elsewhere, taking much-needed funds out of state as well?

RON GREENFIELD

Northridge