April 2013 The E&S Empire Express One Exchange Plaza, Tel: 646-292-5500 55 Broadway, 29th Floor, New York, NY 10006-3728 E-mail:
[email protected] Web site: www.elany.org in handling claims and that most of the problems encountered were Overall, the Insurance with flood claims. Industry Responded Sutton said that the homeowners market in coastal areas was frag- Admirably to ile with many policies placed in the nonadmitted market. He also Superstorm Sandy urged the panelists to standardize hurricane deductible triggers and then encouraged them to consider giving customers the option to he insurance industry can make a pretty fine whipping boy buy back hurricane deductibles because of the large out-of-pocket Tat times, particularly in trying circumstances like Superstorm expense homeowners would face. Sandy with so many suffering so much and looking to blame some- thing other than the fates themselves. Ellen Melchionni, President of the New York Insurance Association, also said her member companies did a good job in handling claims, In New York at least, the industry appeared to acquit itself quite well, noting that 94% of the claims had been closed at the hearing date of according to a report card established by the Department of Financial February 26, 2013 with a satisfaction rate of greater than 99%. Services (DFS) that showed less than half a percent of the nearly 375,000 claims generated complaints. She said more needed to be done to prepare for future disasters. “Steps need to be taken to ensure insurance adjusters have prior- ELANY’s Executive Director Dan Maher joined the chorus of praise for ity access to affected areas, the state should have a comprehensive the 24 companies included in the report.