As I am writing this blog, most of the country is in the middle of a deep freeze. Here in New Jersey, the forecast doesn’t show any signs of warming up:

So naturally, my mind turned to more temperate climates and so today we are going to chat about the claims handling guidelines in California.

Our next stop as we tour the claims handling guidelines of the 50-states is the First state, Delaware. I have never spent a lot of time in Delaware but I do have a fondness for it. When I was young, I was fortunate enough to have a family home on the Delaware Bay about a mile from the Cape May Ferry. On a clear night, we could see the lights in Lewes, Delaware and I always imagined taking my little sunfish sailboat across the bay to visit (I never did).

Up next in the state-by-state claims handling tour is the Centennial State – Colorado. Colorado property owners have been devastated by massive hail storms over the last several years so it is very important that policyholders and their representatives are aware of the claim handling requirements of the state. Colorado’s claim handling is governed by Title 3 of the Code of Colorado Regulations. The regulations define their purpose as being “…to describe the procedure and circumstances under which penalties will be imposed for failure to make timely decisions and/or payment on first party claims.”¹

As we continue our state-by-state tour of claim handling guidelines we now visit Arizona.

As Hurricane Irma has recently battered Florida, it makes sense to turn to that state on our review of claims handling guidelines.

As we have toured around the country, we have seen states that are very protective of policyholders through extensive claim handling guidelines. Others have very few regulations. While Connecticut has a statute barring unfair claims practices, it is actually an example of the latter.

Next up in our state-by-state anthology of claims handling guidelines is the Beaver State – Oregon. Claims handling in Oregon is governed by the Oregon Administrative Rules.

I recently received a request to write about the claims handling guidelines in Texas. In the great state of Texas, the handling of insurance claims are governed by both the Administrative Code and Insurance Code.