After three days of
staffing the Americans for Insurance Reform AIR (Americans for
Insurance Reform) has received many calls from Louisiana and
Mississippi residents who are insured by smaller insurance companies
(not the major companies like State Farm, Allstate or Travelers).
AIR set up the Katrina Insurance Hotline (888-450-5545), two weeks
after the hurricane struck and could already report some important
results after just three days of its operation.
Americans
for Insurance Reform (AIR), a newly formed coalition of more than 60
consumer and public interest groups. AIR began its operations in
2000 to address poor business practices, shady accounting, and poor
investment strategies of some of America’s largest insurers. AIR
argues that the insurance industry is trying to solve its
self-inflicted management problems by a spate of "excessive" rate
increases. |
Consumers
have reported that their insurance carriers are saying they are
unwilling to supply policyholders with immediate living expenses until
a claims adjuster has inspected their property. At the same time,
these insurance representatives are unwilling to provide policyholders
with even a broad estimate of when such an inspection might
happen. Numerous people have told AIR, “Our money is running out
and our insurance companies can't tell us when or if any help is on the
way.”
Several Katrina afflicted policyholders report that
representatives of United Fire Insurance, which also owns Lafayette,
Addison, American Indemnity, and United Fire Lloyds, are saying that
the company has officially declared that the damage and forced
evacuations in New Orleans and the out-lying areas were solely the
result of flooding. While this apparent ruling has resulted in
leaving many policy holders ineligible for the temporary “loss of use”
funds guaranteed in their homeowners policies, if accurate, such a
decision would have the long-term effect of leaving all of United
Fire’s policy holders without flood insurance with little to no
compensation for their damaged or destroyed homes. Calls to
company headquarters for comment were not returned.
Louisiana
resident Shawna Balding reported to AIR that on-the-ground
representatives at Travelers had told her 78-year-old mother, a New
Orleans resident whose home was flooded, that she would have to travel
to Baton Rouge or Gulfport to pick up the check owed to her for
“additional living expenses.” After Shawna called the AIR
hotline, AIR mentioned the situation on national television.
After that TV appearance, Travelers called AIR to say that their
vice-president overseeing the Gulf Coast situation would personally
ensure that this did not happen again. While it is unclear to AIR
if Shawna’s mother was the victim of company policy or the company’s
poor communication with claims representatives, AIR congratulates
Travelers for correcting the mistake and ensuring that it will not
happen again. AIR continues to monitor this situation.
AIR
also applauds Shawna Balding for informing AIR of her situation,
showing the power that individuals can have just by complaining.
“People have power,” said J. Robert Hunter, AIR co-founder, Director of
Insurance for the Consumer Federation of America and former Federal
Insurance Administrator. “Just making your complaint known can
change things. It is very important to speak out if you feel an
injustice is being done to you as you try to rebuild your life after
this awful hurricane damage."
|
