The American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) chimed in to a recent Senate subcommittee hearing to defend the industry’s response to claims following hurricanes Milton and Helene.
“The vast majority of claims from Hurricanes Milton and Helene have been settled, totaling more than $8 billion paid to policyholders,” said David A. Sampson, president and CEO of industry trade association APCIA. “There were minimal complaints on those claims, with less than 1% of claims generating any complaints to regulators.”
During a May 13 hearing of the Disaster Management Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, State Farm and Allstate were singled out and received criticism for the insurers’ handling of claims. The hearing contained testimony from policyholders and insurance adjusters. The former told of frustrations with lengthy claims processes and the latter alleged insurers give instructions to change storm damage reports.
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APCIA was not at the hearing to testify but it did submit a letter to the subcommittee May 13, which followed a February 7 email to Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., chair of the subcommittee.
APCIA said data it obtained from state regulators indicated about 80% of claims from Milton and 84% of claims from Helene were settled as of February 7. These claims totaled over $8 billion. Less than 1% of the claims involved complaints, APCIA reported.
Flood caused much of the damages from the hurricanes—especially Helene. However, in the hardest hit areas of Helene, less than 1% of homeowners had flood insurance. “Many of the claim issues that arose from Hurricanes Helene and Milton are related to the fact that property owners did not have insurance coverage for their natural disaster losses or were underinsured [by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, manger of the National Flood Insurance Program],” APCIA said it in May 13 statement to the subcommittee.
The trade association said stats on denied claims are inflated because FEMA will not pay for losses already covered by primary insurance. Homeowners need to file with their homeowners insurer, get denied, and then apply for disaster relief with proof they aren’t covered by a standard homeowners policy.
