Here’s a letter my husband mailed at the beginning of December to all US senators and many congressman, particularly those from the Gulf Coast states. He has yet to receive one response. Why is it that no one will stand up to the insurance companies? We are one of a very lucky few (I’m sure) who appear to have won our battle with our insurance company — the engineer’s report came back in our favor. But the hell we had to go through to get to this place should not be required when you’re already dealing with a tragedy. And how many of you, who maybe didn’t know how to fight the system or didn’t have a big enough mouth to be heard or just didn’t know you had other options settled for less than you deserved? “Like a good neighbor,” “You’re in good hands,” “On your side,” I think not. Anyway, here’s the letter. Feel free to borrow from it or copy the whole darn thing and email it to your elected representatives! http://www.house.gov/writerep/ and http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

December 1, 2005: I am writing to request that members of the US Congress and Senate please do something to make insurance companies get payments to their policyholders in a more timely manner. All over the South, hundreds of thousands of your citizens are living in unclean, unsafe and poverty-like conditions or worse because every day that insurers can delay paying our claims they are putting money in the bank. There was a recent article written by Katie Fairbank and Jennifer LaFleur published in the Dallas Morning News where Douglas Heller, Executive Director of the National Flood Insurance Program, was quoted as saying, “Delays actually make money for the insurance industry. “A month-long delay in claims for 50 destroyed homes could bring in more than $30,000 in investment income to the underwriter,” he said. Also, the “longer the delay, the more likely homeowners will settle for less.”

I recently attended a town-hall meeting hosted by MS Representative Gene Taylor. One of the questions asked of Rep. Taylor was, “Who regulates the insurance industry?” His response was that the insurance industry was one of two industries he knew of over which the government had no regulation. The other is Major League Baseball. And while I’m not a baseball fan and I will openly admit I don’t understand the motivation behind the amount of time you’ve been spending this past year regarding steroids in baseball, what the insurance companies are permitted to do to your constituents has such devastating consequences that impact hundreds of thousands of people more than the effects of steroids in baseball. I’m having a really hard time understanding why the underhanded, almost mafia-like practices of insurance companies are being ignored by our government.

I realize insurance is a for-profit industry, but it should not be allowed to take advantage of people experiencing some of the most trying times of their lives. And while some states obviously have invested the time and effort in trying to ensure equality on both sides of the equation, there can be no doubt that this is not the case throughout this country. I know of no one who will admit the system works, yet no one wants to address it and fix it in order to bring equality to ALL sides of the equation.

We purchase insurance primarily for peace of mind. We pay astronomical fees each year for this peace of mind. Yet, when tragedy occurs, insurance companies are permitted to delay settlements, arbitrarily assign coverages and decide amounts and deceive their policyholders in general, allowing some to be brought to the brink of bankruptcy and forcing them to accept less than what they paid for. Their actions are unregulated to boot!

There are many Americans who desperately needed and still need the Federal Government’s help following Katrina and Rita, such as those with no flood or homeowner’s insurance that lost everything they own. But there is another group of Americans that is being pushed towards poverty for no reason. We have insurance policies and would not be in need of government assistance if only someone would step up to the plate and put an end to allowing the insurance industry to do this to their policyholders.

While it’s a wonderful thing for our children to look up to sports figures as national heroes, it would certainly be a better thing if our politicians would go to bat to allow our children the right to live in clean, safe homes by putting a stop to the strong-armed tactics of the insurance industry. Thank you for your consideration.

- David

I have been displace by Hurricane Katrina. I guess I am one of the lucky ones because I have received 58 from FEMA, but now that is gone. I had to relocate, find a place to live, buy furniture and pay rent. I have called FEMA for additional assistance but to no avail. It amazes me that I could call FEMA 3 times in one day and get three different answers. I fax over everytthing they ask me too. I even sent it over night at the beginning of November. They just scanned it in Friday. Now I have to wait for it to be reviewed. They can’t give me a time frame.

The complex I lived in was totally destroyed, everyone had to move out of this complex because of safety issues. One of my neighbors was told my FEMA that she had no damage and her case was closed. The side of her building came off and all of her personal property was destroyed. The roof came off my building. FEMA is a big joke. I get so disgusted when I call them. Now don’t get me wrong some of the people who answers the phone do care, I am talking about the big shots. Also they should properly train the people who are answering the phones. Are we going to be put aside? We need help. Where is the government? The House/Senate Committee is trying to figure out what happen, slow repsonse, levee breaking etc: these are things that should be worked out. But what about NOW. What about the people who are still suffering because of yet again slow response from FEMA. We the people should stop complaining to one another and start putting pressure on our elected officials in Washington. We need to be heard. They need to know that somebody is not doing their job. Thanks for the relief. I needed it.

- Phyllis Roach

People of Pass Christian Lost; Big Time ! and still losing: Not only what Katrina took; BUT Free wheeling LOOTERS allowed to roam free while “US” Residents were denied access for WEEKS: .. held at bay by lies, nothing more:

Questions Need Answering: You bet; City Officials have loads of explaining to do, that’s a fact !

I wont rest until we get the answers we DESERVE !

We also Lost everything to Karina and the Theives she brought along with her for the ride !

Mad you bet I am and plan to stay precisely so: No ones gonna shove us in a corner and tell us to forget’ we should move on; Hell you say; that aint happening not this time:

L. Taylor
Cedar Avenue
Pass Christian Mississippi !

Dear Mr President,

When you appeared on television and said New Orleans would not be left
behind or forgotten, I BELIEVED you. I do not believe you anymore.

- Walter Steven Owens

I am one of many who feels that Louisiana and the New Orleans area in
particular is worth preserving. We deserve as much attention and
government funding as Miami, San Francisco and other cities plagued by
constant catastrophes. New Orleans has one of the country’s biggest ports, and the Louisiana Gulf Coast provides a large percentage of the nation’s oil and gas supply. There is no reason for us to be treated as “red headed step children”, and that is exactly the way New Orleans and Louisiana have been treated for almost a century.

Take for instance the breaches in the levees that caused the flooding
of a good part of New Orleans. Who did the taxpayers of Louisiana pay
to create or enhance those levees? The Army Corps of Engineers. If
they were not built right, then who do we have to blame? Who can we sue? Not the federal government. The federal government is immune to any action that we could otherwise take. And now the federal government wants to turn its back on us?

We are broken right now. I have lived in the New Orleans area my whole
life and have never felt the sense of devastation and depression that
is rampant amongst the citizens. The large mountains of debris that one
sees everywhere, on neutral grounds, in front of people’s houses; the
coffin flies that swarm everywhere; the stench of death; why would
anyone want to stay in this town? This town is broken, but the spirit of
the people who live here is resilient. We are determined to come back
bigger and better than ever. The French Quarter is basically untouched.
Our forefathers knew what they were doing when they built the French
Quarter where they did. There is a lot of New Orleans that survived
Hurricane Katrina. And, there are a lot of people who love this city so
much they would never think of leaving.

Would anyone ever advise all the citizens of San Francisco to leave
just because it is inevitable that one day the whole city will break off
the rest of the continent due to the San Andreas Fault? How many towns
in Florida have gotten ravaged over and over again by hurricanes? Has
the federal government turned their back on these cities? No. But,
Louisiana, the red headed stepchild, the state with some of the worst
statistics in the United States for schools, crimes, poverty-we are left
out in the cold, ignored, laughed at. Is this any way to treat a state
that offers the rest of the United States so much? Perhaps additional
federal funding would alleviate some of the problems that we have.

I’ve never written any congressmen or government officials before, but
I am tired of the negativity shown by “60 Minutes” and some of the
comments made by certain public officials. If there was a man made error
in our levee system that caused the flooding, then we were sold a faulty
bill of goods by the Army Corps of Engineers. They are still
investigating to see if the error was in the construction of the system or if
subsidence over time contributed to the collapse. Most of what I have
read points to fact that the pilings were not long enough to support the
system. That amounts to human error. From what I have read the levee
system should have withstood a Category 3 hurricane which Hurricane
Katrina was when it hit New Orleans. So, why did the system fail, and why did it fail so miserably?

If the below sea level Netherlands can build a superior levee system,
then why can’t we do so for New Orleans? We can save New Orleans and
the rest of Louisiana.

I plead for you to take our state seriously and vote in favor of any
bill submitted to provide additional funding to Louisiana and New Orleans
to build a superior levee system or to prevent coastal erosion. We are
too valuable to the rest of the country to be tossed aside as garbage.

- Bonnie McAfee