President Trump bashed State Farm on social media: Why it didn’t come out of the blue

Victims of the January 2025 wildfire are unhappy with the way their insurance companies are covering their claims; They sued, protested, and filed complaints with local and state officials.

This week, they received support from an unlikely ally: President Trump.

“It came to my attention that the Insurance Companies, especially State Farm, have been absolutely terrible to the people who have been paying them high premiums for years, but when tragedy strikes these terrible Companies are not there to help!” Trump shared a post on Truth Social.

He also asked U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to give him a list of insurers that “acted quickly, boldly and courageously” to meet their legal obligations, and another list of those that were “particularly bad.”

State Farm, California’s largest home insurer, is under investigation over how it handled wildfire claims in January 2025. In a statement responding to the president’s post, he said he had received 13,700 requests, paid $5.7 billion, and expected total payments to reach $7 billion.

“Our leadership position in the California homeowners insurance market means that State Farm General Insurance Company, the State Farm company that provides homeowners insurance in California, insures more people affected by this disaster than anyone else combined,” the statement said.

Tuesday’s post had its origins in Zeldin and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler’s Feb. 4 visit to the Los Angeles area; where they met with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles County Executive Kathryn Barger, and Pacific Palisades fire victims and others.

The visit comes amid Trump’s criticism of the slow rebuilding process and a Trump executive order allowing Los Angeles wildfire victims to rebuild without having to deal with “unnecessary, duplicative or prohibitive” permitting requirements.

At the time of the order, Bass called it a “pointless political stunt,” saying the president had no authority over local permits but could help by expediting Federal Emergency Management Agency funding.

American Property Casualty Insurance Assn. The industry trade group continued to blame the government in its response to Trump’s post. The fires were said to be the third worst natural disaster in American history, with $40 billion in insured losses.

“Permitting can be a frustrating process and can always be improved,” he said in a statement. “Los Angeles is approving permits three times faster than before the fire. But the delay in issuing permits continues.”

Barger, whose district includes Altadena and the surrounding Eaton fire district, told Zeldin this week that he defended the local permitting process. But he said he also noted complaints about how insurance companies, and State Farm in particular, handle claims.

“Many people feel that the insurance industry has let them down, and the number one company we hear about is State Farm,” he said. “Obviously, Director Zeldin met with the president and summarized what I told him.”

Bass, who also spoke to Trump by phone last month, released a statement saying he “recently requested that the President intervene with insurance companies to ensure claims are paid so that survivors can afford to rebuild.”

“I want to thank President Trump and EPA Administrator Zeldin for taking action and working with us to help survivors get the support they need and deserve,” she said.

A White House official said Friday that the EPA was working to prepare the list of insurance companies “as quickly as possible for the president” and that “the best way for insurance companies to help is to immediately pay what victims owe so they can rebuild their lives.”

“Administrator Zeldin, on behalf of the president, will hold insurance companies accountable to the great people of California,” the official said.

The federal government has played a big role in the recovery, including leading debris cleanup and approving 12,600 Small Business Administration loans totaling $3.2 billion for fire victims as of February.

However, a 1945 federal law McCarran-Ferguson Act, It primarily delegates the authority to regulate the insurance industry to individual states.

Joy Chen, general manager Every Fire Survivor’s NetworkThe group representing fire victims in the Eaton fire district in Altadena and elsewhere said it believes the federal government has a larger role to play.

“President Trump has an opportunity to restore accountability to this broken system. Federal agencies have the tools to take action,” said Chen, who harshly criticized State Farm’s claims practices and how California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara handled complaints against the company.

Specifically, he called for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate “deceptive sales practices” that leave Americans underinsured and for the Justice Department to investigate “industrywide claims practices that delay, deny, or underpay payments owed to policyholders.”

Lara defended his treatment of the company, noting that regulators launched an investigation into State Farm’s claims practices last year.

Martin Grace, a business professor at the University of Iowa and an expert on insurance regulations, said that aside from the “bully pulpit” Trump implemented in his social media post, the federal government’s hands are largely tied.

“He can intimidate people, and Trump is good at that. And I think the federal government, on some level, just has that. Now, Congress and the president can say together: ‘Listen, we don’t like what the states are allowing insurers to do, and we’re going to change the regulatory system,'” he said.

Grace noted that there was a solvency crisis in the insurance industry in the 1970s and 1980s, which led to a 1990 report to Congress and federal pressure to improve state-level regulations, which were also undertaken.

“Congress basically said: ‘Get your act together, or we’re going to take action.’ [regulation] it’s back.’” So the states came together and did a much better job of this,” he said.

Los Angeles attorney Richard Giller, who represents plaintiffs in lawsuits against insurers, said the federal government could still take steps to improve the market.

These could include creating a federal reinsurance program that shares natural disaster risks with insurers or underwriting the risk itself in a similar manner to insurers. National Flood Insurance Program it works.

“The disaster insurance industry in California is incredibly broken and in dire need of repair,” he said.