The only people “negligent and unacceptable” are these legislator buffoons who sit behind the dais pontificating, while the only tasks they ever perform are going to free dinners and breakfasts, showboating for the press, or voting “aye or “nea”, while accomplishing more fiscal harm on their constuents than any natural catastrophe in history ever has.
As an agent & broker I’ve found that trying to assist insureds with their Sandy losses was and still is very difficult. The communications with many carriers claims reps were atrocious – no one picked up the phone, returned calls or responded to emails. The worst carriers were Tower Group, Magna Carta Group and any & all surplus/excess lines carriers. They need to improve their communications processes in order to reduce the frustration level and restore trust in our industry.
Another excample of politicians pontificating about a problem that only existed to a minute degree compared to the overall number of claims handled following the biggest storm we’ve had here. The AIA representatvie was exactly right, but politicians want to use the relative few complaints as well and the failures of the FEMA flood program to beat up on insurance companies, which, unlike the flood program, are regulated by the state. That became an incentive to react with punitive regulations, further hamstringing regulated companies from doing their job in a reasonable and orderly fashion adn punishing them for many complaints that didn;t result frfom their activities. Unfortunately, Rahm Emanuel hit the nail on the political head when he said: “Never let a crisis go to waste.” Such actions make it look like politicians such as those speaking at the hearing, are doing something about the problem but they don’t understand the dynamics of handling as many claims as we had from this storm. Moreover, as proposed, the short window of time in which to begin and conduct the claims process hasn’t been thoroughly vetted and like many knee-jerk laws, unintended consquences inevitably emerge. For example, how will insurers, whose adjusters cannot even get access to some damaged properties to assess the damage in the time allowed, as was the case in Sandy, be treated? Would they be fined for not complying with an arbitrary time limit that sounds good on paper but is wholly urealistic in the real world? Politicians should stay out of the process and let the regulators who know more about the industry they regulate handle the problems that arise. Too many times, these days, we get laws that are the result of knee-jerk reactions and are more for headlines than real improvement, but unfortunately, we are seeing more and more of this. As AIA’s VP pointed out, many of the complaints resulted from people simply not knowing what their policy covers and what is not covered. Other than putting all pertinent information in bold type on the front page, which they still won’t read, is there any way to remedy that? You can’t regulate people’s lack of understanding away.
How long did it take the Government to pass its federal aid and have the States involved allocated that money yet? So they had November, December, January and now all of February to respond and answers are still needed! Who’s regulating them? Maybe they should lay off the companies until there own work is done? Something about glass homes comes to mind…
First off, if a road is flooded and no one can get in or out of a neighborhood, how are adjusters supposed to inspect a home within 6 days? Parachute in? How many of the complaint claims (less than 1%) were because coverage was denied for flood? I’d like to see what the bulk of these complaints were. Considering the magnitude of Sandy (unheard of in the NE, let alone the country), I’d say the complaint rate was really low. Most companies flew in extra help and contracted outside their normal work force to get claims moving. Most of these adjusters themselves had no home and were working out of remote locations.
The comments about knee-jerk reaction legislation are correct. Less and less companies will want to do business in NY if unrealistic regulations are enacted. Showboating by these politicians isn’t helping anyone.
The only people “negligent and unacceptable” are these legislator buffoons who sit behind the dais pontificating, while the only tasks they ever perform are going to free dinners and breakfasts, showboating for the press, or voting “aye or “nea”, while accomplishing more fiscal harm on their constuents than any natural catastrophe in history ever has.
As an agent & broker I’ve found that trying to assist insureds with their Sandy losses was and still is very difficult. The communications with many carriers claims reps were atrocious – no one picked up the phone, returned calls or responded to emails. The worst carriers were Tower Group, Magna Carta Group and any & all surplus/excess lines carriers. They need to improve their communications processes in order to reduce the frustration level and restore trust in our industry.
Another excample of politicians pontificating about a problem that only existed to a minute degree compared to the overall number of claims handled following the biggest storm we’ve had here. The AIA representatvie was exactly right, but politicians want to use the relative few complaints as well and the failures of the FEMA flood program to beat up on insurance companies, which, unlike the flood program, are regulated by the state. That became an incentive to react with punitive regulations, further hamstringing regulated companies from doing their job in a reasonable and orderly fashion adn punishing them for many complaints that didn;t result frfom their activities. Unfortunately, Rahm Emanuel hit the nail on the political head when he said: “Never let a crisis go to waste.” Such actions make it look like politicians such as those speaking at the hearing, are doing something about the problem but they don’t understand the dynamics of handling as many claims as we had from this storm. Moreover, as proposed, the short window of time in which to begin and conduct the claims process hasn’t been thoroughly vetted and like many knee-jerk laws, unintended consquences inevitably emerge. For example, how will insurers, whose adjusters cannot even get access to some damaged properties to assess the damage in the time allowed, as was the case in Sandy, be treated? Would they be fined for not complying with an arbitrary time limit that sounds good on paper but is wholly urealistic in the real world? Politicians should stay out of the process and let the regulators who know more about the industry they regulate handle the problems that arise. Too many times, these days, we get laws that are the result of knee-jerk reactions and are more for headlines than real improvement, but unfortunately, we are seeing more and more of this. As AIA’s VP pointed out, many of the complaints resulted from people simply not knowing what their policy covers and what is not covered. Other than putting all pertinent information in bold type on the front page, which they still won’t read, is there any way to remedy that? You can’t regulate people’s lack of understanding away.
How long did it take the Government to pass its federal aid and have the States involved allocated that money yet? So they had November, December, January and now all of February to respond and answers are still needed! Who’s regulating them? Maybe they should lay off the companies until there own work is done? Something about glass homes comes to mind…
First off, if a road is flooded and no one can get in or out of a neighborhood, how are adjusters supposed to inspect a home within 6 days? Parachute in? How many of the complaint claims (less than 1%) were because coverage was denied for flood? I’d like to see what the bulk of these complaints were. Considering the magnitude of Sandy (unheard of in the NE, let alone the country), I’d say the complaint rate was really low. Most companies flew in extra help and contracted outside their normal work force to get claims moving. Most of these adjusters themselves had no home and were working out of remote locations.
The comments about knee-jerk reaction legislation are correct. Less and less companies will want to do business in NY if unrealistic regulations are enacted. Showboating by these politicians isn’t helping anyone.