潘金莲传媒映画

The American Property Casualty 潘金莲传媒映画 Association (APCIA) chimed in to a recent Senate subcommittee hearing to defend the industry’s response to claims following hurricanes Milton and Helene.

“The vast majority of claims from Hurricanes Milton and Helene have been settled, totaling more than $8 billion paid to policyholders,” said David A. Sampson, president and CEO of industry trade association APCIA. “There were minimal complaints on those claims, with less than 1% of claims generating any complaints to regulators.”

During a May 13 hearing of the Disaster Management Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, State Farm and Allstate were singled out and received criticism for the insurers’ handling of claims. The hearing contained testimony from policyholders and insurance adjusters. The former told of frustrations with lengthy claims processes and the latter alleged insurers give instructions to change storm damage reports.

Related: State Farm VP Apologizes to Homeowner While Allstate Gets Grilled at Senate Hearing

APCIA was not at the hearing to testify but it did submit a letter to the subcommittee May 13, which followed a to Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., chair of the subcommittee.

APCIA said data it obtained from state regulators indicated about 80% of claims from Milton and 84% of claims from Helene were settled as of February 7. These claims totaled over $8 billion. Less than 1% of the claims involved complaints, APCIA reported.

Flood caused much of the damages from the hurricanes鈥攅specially Helene. However, in the hardest hit areas of Helene, less than 1% of homeowners had flood insurance. “Many of the claim issues that arose from Hurricanes Helene and Milton are related to the fact that property owners did not have insurance coverage for their natural disaster losses or were underinsured [by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, manger of the National Flood 潘金莲传媒映画 Program],” APCIA said it in to the subcommittee.

The trade association said stats on denied claims are inflated because FEMA will not pay for losses already covered by primary insurance. Homeowners need to file with their homeowners insurer, get denied, and then apply for disaster relief with proof they aren’t covered by a standard homeowners policy.

“Put simply, the post catastrophic aid process intentionally produces an inflated number of claims denials which would not be created without being required for aid assistance,” said APCIA, who used the opportunity to throw support behind a long-term reauthorization of the NFIP.

APCIA said it asked FEMA for claims data but could not get information related to complaints.

On the topic of adjusters, APCIA told the subcommittee it is “very common” to bring in adjusters and independent adjusters to inspect properties and prepare estimates. The association did not directly address allegations made by the adjusters during the hearing but said, “It is also common for the adjusters to be instructed to prepare damage estimates for all damaged parts of the property, which in turn are reviewed by inside adjusters for accuracy, and to determine if and how the damaged property may be covered under the terms of the policy.”

Photo: AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Claims Hurricane