Disorganization, large claims volume, and a rediculous deadline is what hurt Citizens, not the Independent Adjusters. Though many problems were a direct result of poor claims handling by TPAs, the largest problem was with the companies that were chosen. There are hundreds, if not, thousands of IA’s out there willing to continue working and bring claims to conclusion, but these same IA’s are still looking for work. The problem with the industry is that you have to be a mega player to be a player at all. Start dealing with the individuals, the ones willing to work, and issues like these should fade.
Florida should make wind coverage mandatory on all property policies or kick the insurer out of the state for ALL business. There are insurers who will happily take the full exposure on their books and if not, then, Citizens should take ALL perils so they get the more profitable premiums along with the wind exposures to balance their books. When will the week department of insurances and legislatures wake up to the industry’s blackmail scheme?
I agree that the insurance industry should take the risk transfer. However; those who chose to live in these high risk areas need to either pay the cost of the transfer (Insurance) or self insure. No one is asking about the undamaged victim. Those who are picking up the short fall. Also, the greed is unbelivable. People having minor wind damage yet demanding policy limits.
Citizens took over the Florida windpool a couple of years ago from Florida Wind Underwriters Association (FWUA). Since that time they have been lucky enough to not be hit with a major catastrophe.
The FWUA had a certification process, catastrophe claims procedures and file requirement standards set up far in advance of every storm season. They utilized a multitude of adjusting firms and temporary services all of which were trained in advance of the storm season. FWUA’s fee schedules for services was competitive to that of other insurers and the market in general at the time.
Citizens seems to have spent the last couple of years formulating all sorts of paperwork and forms for the field adjuster to fill out on each and every file which does not facilitate the speedy and fair closure of any claims. This “busy” work causes frustration to the adjuster who is usually trying to handle 50- 100 claims at a time in a catastrophic situation. Additionally, the adjuster is not compensated for all this extra paperwork. In fact, the independant adjuster fee scale is the same as the fee scale paid by FWUA in 1998 for hurricane Georges with one exception, now Citizens doesn’t pay for the photographs. So contrary to Mr. Gallagers claims on Tampa area television that the independant adjusters make too much money and are at the root of the problem, the fact is that the adjusters have taken a pay cut and are expected to produce more while being paid less. Well folks, welcome to reality, “You get what you pay for”.
Since Citizens decided to award contracts to only a handful of firms, and at least one of those hadn’t even been in the adjusting business for a year, many if not all the experienced adjusters opted to work for other carriers that were more organized and paid better. Who can blame them? Oh yeah, Mr. Gallager does…
You are right/wrong. A TPA is made up of IA’s. If you have one, they are an IA, if they are a group working as a team or company, they are a TPA. YOU better learn the difference BEFORE YOU look STUPID!
gallagher and others would take note to stay away from the big bloated outfits who send 1000s of over the hill incompetent slow as molassas adjusters to deal with storms and instead to put their eggs in more than one baskets using multiple small firms who are much more efficient without the miles of red tape and have younger adjusters not afraid to climb ladders.
Citizens claims system was just not able to handle the volume from four hurricanes. The system crashed. There were no ‘phanton adjusters’ Citizens just did not know who the claims were assigned to. That was not the fault of the IA. How can Citizens rely upon staff adjusters, who have a full case load to handle storm claims? Mr. Gallagher apparently knows little about insurance company operations.
If this were anthrax instead of Charley, Jean, Ivan and Frances I’m sure there would not have been enough doctors to make house calls. 1.2+ million claims properly handled in a few months is just not possible. There are not enough qualifed people.
How would we have handled four hurricanes if we had had a crystal ball and knew they were coming? Not much differently, I would guess. There was just too much damage over too large an area in a state with too much exposure and not much access.
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Disorganization, large claims volume, and a rediculous deadline is what hurt Citizens, not the Independent Adjusters. Though many problems were a direct result of poor claims handling by TPAs, the largest problem was with the companies that were chosen. There are hundreds, if not, thousands of IA’s out there willing to continue working and bring claims to conclusion, but these same IA’s are still looking for work. The problem with the industry is that you have to be a mega player to be a player at all. Start dealing with the individuals, the ones willing to work, and issues like these should fade.
Florida should make wind coverage mandatory on all property policies or kick the insurer out of the state for ALL business. There are insurers who will happily take the full exposure on their books and if not, then, Citizens should take ALL perils so they get the more profitable premiums along with the wind exposures to balance their books. When will the week department of insurances and legislatures wake up to the industry’s blackmail scheme?
Keith and Victor are both “dead on target”. It’s a shame the Florida Insurance Dept officials probably won’t even read these responses.
Richard
I agree that the insurance industry should take the risk transfer. However; those who chose to live in these high risk areas need to either pay the cost of the transfer (Insurance) or self insure. No one is asking about the undamaged victim. Those who are picking up the short fall. Also, the greed is unbelivable. People having minor wind damage yet demanding policy limits.
Citizens took over the Florida windpool a couple of years ago from Florida Wind Underwriters Association (FWUA). Since that time they have been lucky enough to not be hit with a major catastrophe.
The FWUA had a certification process, catastrophe claims procedures and file requirement standards set up far in advance of every storm season. They utilized a multitude of adjusting firms and temporary services all of which were trained in advance of the storm season. FWUA’s fee schedules for services was competitive to that of other insurers and the market in general at the time.
Citizens seems to have spent the last couple of years formulating all sorts of paperwork and forms for the field adjuster to fill out on each and every file which does not facilitate the speedy and fair closure of any claims. This “busy” work causes frustration to the adjuster who is usually trying to handle 50- 100 claims at a time in a catastrophic situation. Additionally, the adjuster is not compensated for all this extra paperwork. In fact, the independant adjuster fee scale is the same as the fee scale paid by FWUA in 1998 for hurricane Georges with one exception, now Citizens doesn’t pay for the photographs. So contrary to Mr. Gallagers claims on Tampa area television that the independant adjusters make too much money and are at the root of the problem, the fact is that the adjusters have taken a pay cut and are expected to produce more while being paid less. Well folks, welcome to reality, “You get what you pay for”.
Since Citizens decided to award contracts to only a handful of firms, and at least one of those hadn’t even been in the adjusting business for a year, many if not all the experienced adjusters opted to work for other carriers that were more organized and paid better. Who can blame them? Oh yeah, Mr. Gallager does…
You are right/wrong. A TPA is made up of IA’s. If you have one, they are an IA, if they are a group working as a team or company, they are a TPA. YOU better learn the difference BEFORE YOU look STUPID!
gallagher and others would take note to stay away from the big bloated outfits who send 1000s of over the hill incompetent slow as molassas adjusters to deal with storms and instead to put their eggs in more than one baskets using multiple small firms who are much more efficient without the miles of red tape and have younger adjusters not afraid to climb ladders.
Citizens claims system was just not able to handle the volume from four hurricanes. The system crashed. There were no ‘phanton adjusters’ Citizens just did not know who the claims were assigned to. That was not the fault of the IA. How can Citizens rely upon staff adjusters, who have a full case load to handle storm claims? Mr. Gallagher apparently knows little about insurance company operations.
If this were anthrax instead of Charley, Jean, Ivan and Frances I’m sure there would not have been enough doctors to make house calls. 1.2+ million claims properly handled in a few months is just not possible. There are not enough qualifed people.
What do you not understand Mr. Gallagher?
TPA and IA are 2 entirely different animals. Better learn the difference before you look stupid.
How would we have handled four hurricanes if we had had a crystal ball and knew they were coming? Not much differently, I would guess. There was just too much damage over too large an area in a state with too much exposure and not much access.