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."
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