This episode explores what financing recovery can look like for individual households making an insurance claim or seeking disaster recovery assistance.

Amy Bach is the Executive Director and co-founder of United Policyholders, a California-based national non-profit that educates and advocates for policyholders on insurance coverage, the claim process, and public policy matters. United Policyholders runs initiatives focused on increasing disaster resiliency and insurance literacy. Ms. Bach is a professional consumer advocate, attorney and published author. She currently serves on the U.S. Treasury Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance, the Redwood Credit Union Board, and is an official consumer representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Leesa O’Donnell Tomsett is Branch Chief of the Claims Branch at the Federal Insurance Directorate within FEMA’s Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration, or FIMA. FIMA manages the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and a range of programs designed to mitigate against future losses from hazards including floods and earthquakes. Prior to joining FEMA in 2016, Ms. Tomsett worked for 44 years in the property and casualty insurance industry, where her activities included overseeing NFIP claims.

This Ready to Recover podcast was produced by CREW at crew.org with funding from FEMA through the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program.