A Cabinet member wants insurance claims adjusters to serve victims faster.
By JONI JAMES
Published October 22, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - For hurricane victims who have yet to see an insurance adjuster, help might be on the way.
Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher on Thursday proposed the state set a deadline for insurance companies to respond to victims' claims.
In Florida, policyholders have lodged 1.3-million claims, and 800,000 more could be filed, Gallagher said.
But nearly 7,700 policyholders have called the state's insurance hotline to complain they had yet to see an adjuster, including 670 calls this week, Gallagher's staff said.
"We have storm victims with tarps on the roof trying to protect their homes from damage," Gallagher said. "It's important for them to realize there is light at the end of the tunnel."
Gallagher's proposal: Ask the state Cabinet, of which he is a member, to vote Tuesday to adopt an emergency rule giving companies no more than 30 days to respond to victims' claims from Hurricane Jeanne, the last of four hurricanes that pummeled Florida this season.
The deadlines, Gallagher said, should be shorter for damage from Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan.
But Gallagher was unclear Thursday what potential penalty he envisioned for companies that violated the proposed deadline. He said he wanted to discuss it at the Cabinet meeting.
The proposal came as little surprise to the insurance industry, which saw Gallagher issue a similar emergency edict 12 years ago in the wake of Hurricane Andrew. That emergency rule didn't include a specific penalty, but nonetheless was largely heeded, in part because Gallagher was then the state's insurance regulator.
"The details of the order remained to be worked out," said Sam Miller of the Florida Insurance Council, a trade group. "But they were reasonable (before) ... and we believe they will be reasonable again. We've been working as hard as we can, but if we can work harder, we will."
This time, however, Gallagher can't act alone. Since the state's Constitution was revised in 2003, Florida's top insurance cop is an appointed job that reports to the Cabinet. Besides Gallagher, the Cabinet is composed of Gov. Jeb Bush, Attorney General Charlie Crist and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson.
There are more than 29,600 licensed Florida adjusters. The state has approved emergency licenses for 15,640 out-of-state adjusters to work on claims.
