Homeowner’s Insurance Claim Process

Bio SoCal will assume the burden of the cleanup and filing an insurance claim on your behalf so you can focus on what’s important, your family.

Most homeowner’s insurance policies will cover the cleaning and decontamination of biohazard contaminate and damage resulting from a suicide, unattended death, crime, accident, medical emergency, and infectious disease.  In addition, the policy will likely also cover any repairs or replacement of structural elements (flooring,carpet and pad, baseboards, dry wall, etc.) that must be removed as part of the bioremediation and decontamination process. When a claim is first opened, it is critical that the situation and details are explained in a manner that helps to ensure coverage.   How the situation is explained to the claims representative can have an impact on whether or not you are covered, how much is covered, and mitigates delay in getting your home or property cleaned up.

Bio SoCal has filed thousands of claims on behalf of its clients and will help you file a claim with your insurance company, guide you through the process and be your advocate to ensure that your insurance company provides all that you are entitled to based on your policy, including the biohazard cleanup and decontamination as well as the repair and restoration of the property and contents.

Avoid Delays

In order to ensure the health and safety of all of those involved and to avoid any delays that the insurance company may create, Bio SoCal recommends that the biohazard cleanup of the scene be cleaned and decontaminated and as quickly as possible. Therefore, Bio SoCal will do the cleanup pending an insurance claim being filed.  Having a claim number prior to cleanup is not mandatory. In most cases, Bio SoCal is willing to begin the biohazard cleanup prior to a claim being made. California law mandates that the insured may hire any company they choose and it is illegal for an insurance company to require that you use their preferred vendor, which can create a conflict of interest.

Don’t Use the Insurance Company’s Preferred Vendor

Do not use the insurance company’s “Preferred Vendor” as they do not have your best interest in mind and work for the insurance company, not you.   More concerning is that the preferred vendor is almost always a restoration company specializing in smoke,water, mold and fire claims and has limited experience in the niche of biohazard cleanup, which accounts for less than 5-10% of their overall business.  You wouldn’t hire a plumber to do an electricians job so why hire a water and mold remediation company to do your biohazard cleanup.  Still not sure, read more here

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What if You Haven’t Found the Homeowner’s Insurance Policy Yet or not sure if your loved one has an active policy?

Bio SoCal understands that often times the policy information is not readily available or needs to be found inside the home after the cleanup is completed and thus we will conduct the cleanup and file a claim on your behalf once the policy information is recovered, even if it takes several days after the biohazard cleanup.  If a loved one has passed in their home, we will help you find and recover the policy information as part of our cleanup efforts.

It is important to not delay the biohazard cleanup and to avoid further damage to your property and emotional well-being.  Insurance companies often create red tape and delay the cleanup because they do not understand the physical and emotional importance and need for expediency of Biohazard Cleanup, which is Bio SoCal’s specialty.Bio SoCal has your best interest in mind and we want you to be physically and emotionally safe and thus the biohazard cleanup should be done without delay.

THE CLAIM PROCESS

1. BioSoCal will schedule with you a time and day to enter the scene, and to cleanand decontaminate the scene where the death occurred. 
2. BioSoCal will take the necessary photos and measurements to document the scene before, during and after the biohazard cleanup. All work will be justified and any contents removed are inventoried and documented for policies with contents coverage
3. BioSoCal will collect the homeowner’s insurance policy information necessary to file a claim on your behalf.  We will need the insurance company’s name, name of insured, and policy number.
4. BioSoCal will call the insurance company’s national claim line and provide the detailed information to the claim handler so you don’t have to. The claim handler will open a claim, and, in most cases, provide us with a claim number and the assigned adjuster’s name and contact information.  In order to protect our client’s emotional well-being by not having to relive the details of the situation, we ask the adjuster to contact us directly so we can explain the situation in detail and the work that was done and discuss next steps for any work that still needs to be done to remediate odor, cross contamination or repairs.
5. Once the adjuster and Bio SoCal have spoken, the adjuster will contact you to verify the claim, get additional information, if necessary, and then discuss coverage with you.
6. Once the job is complete, Bio SoCal will submit the documentation, a properly formatted invoice, and scene report as well as the photographs to the adjuster.  We inform the adjuster about what repairs, if any, need to be made to the structure.  If there is contents coverage, an inventory of items removed will also be submitted so you can be reimbursed for the replacement.
7. The adjuster may call you to schedule an appointment so a field adjuster can visit the property to inspect and take measurement for funding the repair and replacement of covered items and structure.
8. The insurance company will either mail you a check less the deductible or send Bio SoCal a check directly for our portion of the claim and we will invoice you for the deductible.

Bio SoCal has your best interest in mind when filing a claim and dealing with the assigned adjuster. How the case is presented and documents submitted are essential to helping to ensure that the only out of pocket expense is the deductible.

*Please note that most biohazard claims are in fact covered, however, all policies are different and coverage varies based on the type of policy and named peril exclusions. Deductibles typically vary between $250-$2,500, but could be higher depending on the policy. Not all insurance companies will permit third parties to file a claim on behalf of the insured. In those few cases, we will file the claim alongside of you and guide the process for you and do our best to shield you from having to relive the details.