Etienne Font and Chip Merlin in Puerto Rico this week handling Hurricane Michael claims after the IAUA Conference

Insurance is an important product. It is hard for all insurers to get clams handling right after a major disaster and claims accuracy is much less certain. That is what is taught and that is a fact. I could explain that problem and give a pass to the insurance industry and even try to help educate my policyholder friends through this understandable delay and inaccuracy which is almost inevitable.

But one comment on my post about delay, Policyholders—What Are the Four Questions Every Insurance Adjuster Should Be Asked and Then Required To Answer, deserves publishing and I am publishing my comment for your consideration:

“Chantal Roberts,

Thanks for your comment.

If you are being slammed for 20 plus claims a day, that is not good faith claims management. There is no way you can handle 20 plus claims per day properly. If that is the normal course of operations, no wonder there are so many poorly adjusted and delayed claims.

The policyholder signed up to have full service right away with people dedicated to provide the full amount of money right away. Not excuses for delay and excuses from adjusters showing that they are more concerned about finding ways not to pay and not having time to do a timely investigation—which means right away!

If the insurance company does not provide this type of service after a loss, it should not be in the business of selling insurance policies in the first place. It is simply ripping off the public and causing the types of problems we find in the Panhandle of Florida and elsewhere.”

Twenty claims a day? Geez, I have often taught (and then litigated) how more than two a day is stupid and wrong. How can one spend enough time and accurately assess all the damage for people suffering from a major disaster with twenty claims a day.

When I was speaking at the IAUA Conference earlier this week, adjusters in the audience said they are to do ten claims a day.

Seriously? Holy Cow! No wonder there is a claims problem. Insurance regulators should be pouring over data about this. We need laws to stop this. People trying to do the right thing should not be abused trying to adjust claims unethically and policyholders should never be abused by what is going on.

I did not make this up. This is what is going on in the field. We need reform and more laws holding insurance companies accountable.

Thought For The Day

A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty.
—Rudyard Kipling