Texas Windstorm Insurance: Insanity in the Texas Legislature

Representative John Smithee, (R) Amarillo, has introduced HB911, which would, if passed and signed by the governor, cause the price of windstorm insurance - required of all coastal property owners - to soar by as much as 60 percent. Additionally, it wouldn’t cover nearly as much and for certain properties, it would not be available at all.

Smithee is the Chairman of the House Committee on Insurance. He cites a need to replenish the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, the state risk pool, after the onslaught of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and Ike in 2008. The Association became the only insurer available for millions of coastal Texans after many insurers pulled out of windstorm coverage after the hurricanes.

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association currently carries 215,537 policies totaling $58.6 billion in exposure. According to a December 2008 Texas Windstorm Insurance Association status statement, 43,079 of those policies are in Nueces County, with a total exposure of $11.4 billion.

House Bill 911 would, among other things:*
• Assess windstorm insurance rates based on geographical location, meaning coastal residents would pay more than inland residents. Rates could go up 60 percent for current coastal policy holders.
• Require coastal homeowners to purchase federal flood coverage.
• Cap windstorm insurance coverage at $250,000 per residence (homestead), well below the current $1.7 million cap, leaving thousands of homes uninsurable to their current value.
• Exclude coverage for rent houses, second homes, condominiums, apartments or other multi-family units.
• Decrease the maximum coverage for commercial buildings from $4.1 million to $1 million.
• Decrease the maximum coverage for government structures, such as schools and courthouses, from $4.1 million to $2.1 million, meaning those entities would have to use tax dollars to purchase more expensive, private insurance, if it’s available, to make up the difference.
• Create a 60-day waiting period before losses could be sought, as opposed to current policy, which prevents new coverage once a hurricane is in the Gulf of Mexico.
*Source: House Bill 911 and an analysis from the Galveston Windstorm Action Committee Inc.

I have no problem with higher premiums for coastal policyholders. That is simply accurate underwriting. Happens in all types of insurance. But don’t be fooled. If rates go up at the coastal states, they will rise state-wide. Texas is a windy state.

But that’s where my agreements end. The rest of this bill is trash.

Here are the elements of the bill I oppose:

Caps on windstorm coverage - Don’t cap coverage, charge the proper premium amount for the risk.

Requiring coastal property owners to buy Federal Flood insurance - it’s tyranny to force a property owner to insure for flood. If the owners want to remain uninsured, it is their right. That doesn’t mean a lienholder could not require flood insurance as a requirement for a mortgage. But that is a collateral protection issue. The federal government does not have a security position in a homeowner’s property without some mortgage in place (Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, VA loans, etc.) To require flood insurance is a violation of property rights.

Excluding coverage for non-homestead dwellings, rental homes, apartments and condos - what kind of idiocy is this? There are millions of second homes, rental houses, condos and apartment buildings in the 14 coastal Texas counties. How would making them uninsurable help the situation?

The 60-day “deductible.” Texas law now states that, once a hurricane or named storm enters the Gulf of Mexico, new coverage cannot be purchased. But those storms usually make landfall, if at all, within a few days. In addition, in the peak of the hurricane season, storms are seldom 60 days apart. Look at Katrina and Rita, about 30 days apart. This proposal hurts Texans.

Smithee is from Amarillo, a city over 650 miles from the Texas Gulf Coast. That’s a distance equal to the distance from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina. I know that’s somewhat obscure, but this nut case is a long way from the water. It illustrates just how far out of touch with reality he is.

So, if a bunch of insurers have stopped writing windstorm coverage in Texas, and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association is the insurer of last resort for many Texans, where are they supposed to go to get insured to value?

This kind of legislative nonsense could bring the Coastal economies to a screeching halt. Lenders would stop lending on properties that could not be insured to value. Insureds with losses could lose everything.

Texans, both inland and coastal, need to bombard their elected representatives with their opinions on this very bad bill and demand that it be rejected.

In the film industry, there is the widely known name of Alan Smithee. It is an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project because they were so disgusted with the final product. I can only hope that someone paints the name “Alan Smithee” on this horrid bill.

Wildfire victims will lose tens of millions without this information!

The Southern California wildfires are causing the largest population evacuation in California’s history, and over $1 billion dollars sofar in property damage. Once the TV cameras leave the damaged areas, the property owners and policyholders will have to get busy with the process of filing insurance claims.

I’m Russell D. Longcore, the nation’s foremost authority on property insurance claims. I’m the author of the book “Insurance Claim Secrets REVEALED!” My book shows consumers how to take control of their insurance claims, and collect hundreds or even thousands more dollars in their claim settlements.

I spent the last 15 years of my 34-year insurance career in the claims adjusting side of the business. I became increasingly sickened by the ways that insurance companies minimized, shrunk, depreciated and flat-out denied claims that they knew were legitimate claims. So, I wrote a book showing consumers how to take control AWAY from the insurance companies. I know ALL the tricks, and I reveal them in my book.

Writing that manuscript got me fired from an international claims adjusting company! What kinds of information is in this book that scares the adjusters and insurance companies so much?

So for you, the reader of this article, I have posted a Top Ten List of crucial steps in the claims process. Then, I wrote and posted a complete article about each of the Top Ten.

Most people don’t read their insurance policies. Even when they try to read them, they find them frustratingly complicated. Insurance policies list what you must do to file a claim, but they NEVER tell policyholders HOW to do it.

The “devil” of the claim is in the details of the claims PROCESS, and the insurance companies hardly EVER explain the process. If they did, it would cost them millions more. Insurance companies do whatever they can to control the CLAIMS PROCESS. But, if you learn the CLAIMS PROCESS from me, you'll be able to take control of the process away from the insurance companies, and add hundreds or even thousands more dollars to your claim settlements!

Insurance companies will pay the least amount of money that the policyholder will accept to settle the claim. But, if you allow the insurance company to handle your claim for you, how will you ever know whether you got ALL you were entitled to collect?

Let me share some of these strategies with you.

1. For the hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes, there is coverage in the homeowners or renters insurance policy for living expenses while you were displaced. In that coverage, there is a whole list of eligible expenses that you don’t know about and it’s not listed in the policy. The insurance companies will likely not tell you this, but I’ll tell you.
2. How will you reconstruct your inventory of personal property? I’ll show you how.
3. The insurance company will depreciate your dwelling and personal property, even if you have replacement cost coverage. Let me tell you how to beat this process.
4. Are you underinsured? If you don’t FIGHT THIS PROCESS, the insurance company will determine how much your dwelling is worth, and if you have enough insurance. If THEY say you’re underinsured, they’ll hit you with a penalty. I can show you how to fight and get the correct valuation on your property.

Watch for my next four articles. In them, I'll expand on each one of the four points listed above. In addition, read each of the articles about the Top Ten List.

You can win the insurance game when you have the right tools!!

Insurance Companies Strike Gold in Illegal Immigrants!

New Mexico passed a law in 2003 that allows illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses so that the public would be safer. States regularly deny driver’s licenses to foreign citizens no matter what there immigrant status is. Some states like California began tightening their requirements for driver’s licenses, and many immigrants couldn’t renew their licenses, and their car insurance was cancelled automatically.

Some car insurance companies have seen this as a new golden market. Even though many states deny driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, the law doesn’t prevent insurers from selling insurance to unlicensed drivers and car owners. Big companies like Progressive are writing car insurance for illegal immigrant drivers.

My first reaction to this story was anger. How could those insurance companies reward illegal immigrants with car insurance? But then, I calmed down and began thinking like an insurance claims professional.

The legal arguments about immigration are not my immediate concern, and they shouldn’t be yours, either. The most important thing you should consider is if you get into a traffic accident with an unlicensed driver who has no car insurance.

How many times have you heard a news story that told about an illegal immigrant driver that caused an accident, and then took off on foot, abandoning their car? Sometimes, they’ll beg the other driver to let them pay for damages in cash, just so they are not discovered driving without insurance.

I like the fact that the insurance companies are taking a pragmatic position. Illegal immigrants are going to drive cars in America. Few things will stop them. They are going to drive to and from work whether or not they have a license. Nothing prevents them from owning a car in any state that I know of.

By serving this growing market, the auto insurers are offering protection as they rightfully should. They are staying out of the political fray, and correctly staking their position in the free market.

Certainly, this market of illegal immigrants is high-risk insurance, and so the insurers are charging high-risk rates for auto policies. But that’s no different than charging higher rates for American citizens that have had a DUI. Risky behavior gets you higher rates.

But the insurance companies are finding that the foreign driver segment is very profitable. The insurance companies experience good “retention,” meaning that the policies renew regularly. Just as important is the fact that illegal immigrants seldom report small accidents to lower the chances that they’ll have a brush with the law. Companies like Progressive, Farmers Group, Bristol West, Infinity P&C and Alliance United are putting a lot of effort into expanding this part of their book of business.

So, in this case, I think the insurance companies are doing the right thing. The more illegal immigrants that have car insurance, the more we all will be financially protected.

Insurance Agents: How Does Yours Measure Up??

Insurance agents can make you or break you...how does YOUR agent stack up??

Have you ever heard a story from a friend or relative who filed an insurance claim, only to find out that the coverage their agent promised was not there?

Insurance agents can be some of the most important people you'll ever do business with. They will help you protect your property, your assets and your finances. The work of an insurance agent has the potential to save you from financial ruin.

You could go through your whole lifetime and not need the services of an attorney. You could live and die and not need an accountant. But you can't live in "the real world" without insurance agents.

But remember...it's YOUR responsibility to learn which coverages are right for you.

I began my insurance career as an agent in 1973. I kept my agent licenses active until 1992 when I became an insurance adjuster. During that period of time, I sold nearly every kind of insurance imaginable. That gave me a depth of experience in insurance sales. But all of that experience did not make me an expert in insurance. I learned risk analysis and sales techniques. But I don't think that I ever had one minutes' training in how to handle a claim. When my clients had a claim, I gave them the company's phone number and told them to call it in. We occasionally filled out an Acord form, which is a standard industry form for filing a claim. That was all we did.

The best agent is a person who has spend time studying insurance, not a person who is an expert in sales. The largest percentage of insurance agents of all types are sales people, not insurance experts. Your agent may or may not be an expert in insurance. You'll have to simply ask your agent what his education level is.

There are a lot of colleges and universities that offer degrees in insurance today. In our area, the University of Georgia offers degrees in Risk Management and Insurance. It's a pretty well-respected program.

Agents can also become experts in insurance by going through continuing education, such as the Certified Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) education program. Life insurance agents can achieve the Certified Life Underwriter (CLU) professional designation. There are other designations available to agents, but those two are the most widely accepted educational programs.

Agents in most states also have to complete a state-required number of Continuing Education hours each year in order to maintain their insurance licenses. If they don't complete the hours, the state cancels their licenses.

An agent has a duty to you, called the "fiduciary duty." That means that he must keep your financial well-being first in his priorities. If an agent sells you an insurance policy because it has a higher commission than another policy, he has breached his fiduciary duty to you.

Agents usually carry a type of liability insurance called "Errors and Omissions" liability insurance. Errors and omssions (E&O) is the insurance that covers the agent's company, or the agent individually, in the event that a client holds the agent responsible for a service he provided, or failed to provide, that did not have the expected or promised results. This protects agents and their clerical staff from liability due to negligent acts, errors and omissions while conducting their business. It will protect the agent from problems like the following examples:

1. loss of client data. The agent simply loses your file, physically or electronically.

2. system or software failure. Computer at the agent's office crashes and all data is lost.

3. negligent oversell. The agent sells you coverage you don't need, or sells you coverage limits higher than necessary.

4. claims of non-performance. This is a broad category but needs to be. This could include charges that an agent did not sell the proper policy, or the proper amount of coverage.

The number 4 example above is the most prevalent and most dangerous for agents. Here's why.

People today have multiple insurance exposures, like:

auto physical damage

auto liability

homeowner physical damage

homeowner liability

excess liability

businessowner physical damage

businessowner liablity

life insurance needs

health insurance needs

disability insurance needs

Any one of the exposures listed above can effect any of the others. They are intricately woven together in each of our lives.

Any agent doing business in the modern world should do an insurance analysis of any
prospect's present insurance and his future insurance requirements. To fail to do so is an invitation for a lawsuit.

What does this mean to you?

In my never-to-be-humble opinion, ALL agents selling ANY kind of insurance should perform a Insurance Needs Analysis for the prospect PRIOR to selling the policy. In addition, I believe that an agent should carefully explain the findings of the Insurance Needs Analysis to the prospect PRIOR to selling the policy. Once the explanation is complete, the agent should require the prospect to sign off on the policies that are sold, and sign off on the policies and coverages that are not sold. "Signing off" simply means that the prospect states that the agent has explained all coverages, and he either accepts or rejects any given coverage.

Both parties..the agent and the policyholder...benefit in this transaction. The policyholder has a complete explanation of the policy he's buying and its relationship to all his other insurance. The agent sells the right coverage, and significantly lowers the risk of a lawsuit or claim against his E&O coverage for selling the wrong coverage.

Here's what an insurance analysis procedure should look like.

1. personal information collection: get as much information about the insured and his family members as possible.

2. get copy of existing policies: the agent should actually read the existing policies.

3. analyze insurance needs: determine the correct coverages needed and the correct policy limits.

4. recommendations: what should be purchased and prices.

5. application and sign-off analysis: fill out the application and have the insured sign off on the analysis form.

6. deliver the policy: An agent should deliver the policy in person and explain it again, not just send you a copy in the mail.

Even after all of the training and education that any insurance agent acquires, the agent is still not an expert in how to handle an insurance claim. I've had lots of people tell me that they were going to get their agent to help them with their claim. Later, they regrettably figured out that the agent didn't know much more about the claims process than they did. As I wrote earlier, agents can become experts, but their expertise is customarily in the sales and needs analysis areas of insurance...not claims. For most agents, learning the claims process would be a waste of their time, since most agents are not licensed to handle claims.

Sure...some agents will be given a small claims settlement authority by the company they work for. Some agents will be able to settle claims up to about $5,000.00, and then only in the property side of the claim...such as a small water loss or a theft. But, for the most part, the insurance company concentrates claims handling with the claims employees and independent claims adjusters.

The most important strategies you should take from this article is:

1. Interview EVERY insurance agent to find out their level of expertise. Only do business with the most qualified, educated and experienced agents. Let the inexperienced agents practice on people who don't care about protecting themselves the right ways.

2. Don't always chase after the lowest premium. You get what you pay for. You'd be better served to pay a higher premium if a highly qualified agent takes care of you. You don't drive the cheapest car you can find, do you?

3. Never be hesitant to call the Department of Insurance of your state if you have problems with your agent. Agents are regulated for a reason.

If you've had bad experiences with insurance agents, how about telling us about it?