Weighing Costs & Insurance Coverage When Opting-In or Out

It’s very important to weigh costs and insurance coverage when determining whether you elect to opt-in or opt-out (we will provide additional information on maximizing insurance coverage in a separate document).  If you opt-in, all costs associated with testing and debris removal will almost certainly be paid for by the Federal and State governments; thus, if you don’t have insurance coverage or your insurance coverage is low then our firm highly recommends you opt-into the program.  If you have insurance coverage and elect to opt-in then the portion of your insurance coverage specific to debris removal will have to be forfeited to the County/State as a reimbursement for the costs covered by the County/State.  The disadvantage of opting-in is that homeowners can’t control the initial testing work, what is removed and what isn’t, removal of the debris, general control of their property and most importantly time (the government process for doing the required testing, waste removal, and confirmation testing in the end is expected to take several months at minimum).  If you have good insurance coverage, then you may be wise to opt-out as you then have significant control over the process.  Additional guidance will be provided on opting-in or out in a later document once more information is available specific to the camp fire.

Learn more here.