A revised proposed state regulation on licensing insurance adjusters after a catastrophe again falls short of protecting Missouri consumers according to the National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII).
NAII Counsel Ann Weber told the state Insurance Department that the revised regulation did not differ significantly from its earlier version.
As she noted in an earlier letter to the department, Weber said that requiring insurers to register temporary adjusters and then wait for the department to issue disaster access and identification cards would impede the recovery process.
“Catastrophes by their very nature result in people being homeless and needing immediate assistance from their insurance companies,” Weber said. “Victims are often families with young children and the elderly. Missouri consumers count on the insurance industry to be at hand to ensure that they are taken care of in a crisis situation.
“The burdensome requirements of registration on both insurance companies and the department (in the proposed regulation) do not provide assistance to the public and, in fact, add additional hurdles to handling claims in ‘real time’.”
Weber suggested that a better alternative for controlling “unsavory scam artists,” as is the department’s intent, would be set up one or more command posts near the disaster scene staffed by representatives of insurance companies, the Insurance Department and law enforcement officers. Using current technology, insurers could continuously update a list of personnel to be permitted access to the disaster site.
“A registration system as outlined in the proposed rule simply consists of unnecessary paperwork and is offsite from the disaster,” Weber said. “A command post is live, at the scene, and would be the most beneficial alternative to all parties involved.
“Having representatives of the Department of Insurance and law enforcement officials together with insurance companies manning a command post would go a long way towards preventing undesired people at the scene. Processing registration forms, fees, and issuing registration cards offsite does not lend itself to the immediacy of the situation.”
The department already has authority to penalize adjusters who fail to act in good faith to help consumers, and such individuals also are subject to criminal penalties, Weber pointed out, adding that nothing further is needed.
Topics Carriers Legislation Claims Missouri
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