By Jessica Taloney Reporter
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Published: Wed, September 26, 2007 - 5:40 pm
Jessica Taloney
But, then came a letter from her insurance company. It's a non-renewal notice hundreds of Gulf Coast residents have found in their mailbox since Hurricane Katrina.
"When we built this house, we built it to stay here pretty much forever," said Broom.
Broom says the insurer told her their home was a high risk for wind damage because they live south of Interstate 10, and their only option for wind coverage was to go through an underwriter who quoted a premium 300% higher.
"We were mad actually for the first part," she said. "But, then we realized hey this is really happening. This is a reality.... We just need to go ahead and sell."
The Broom's situation is one we've heard time and time again from viewers emailing News Five. But, now we've learned help could be on the way.
At a press conference with Alabama Governor Bob Riley, Senator Ben Brooks (R) unveiled a bill to restructure the state's insurance pool. The bill basically gives insurers an incentive to get out of a post catostrophy assessment by writing policies further south.
Brooks says the bill should protect consumers and even reduce rates while encouraging the market.
"We know the citizens of South Alabama have called for help and we've heard that call," said Brooks.
The bill called, Alabama Coastal Insurance Reform, also does a couple other things. It offers tax incentives for homeowners who make hurricane-resistant property improvements, and it allows condos to get coverage under the captive insurance market.
Brooks says he expects the bill to be met with some resistance and he says he's open to making changes. Brooks said he is encouraging the Governor to call a special session to address the bill before the regular session begins next year, but the Governor says he must have consent from both sides of the aisle to make that happen.
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Insurance Help May Be On The Way
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we had a claim with allstate insurance after katrina. they sent us a letter saying our estimated claim was lower than our deductible . fema turned us down because we had homeowners insurance. fearing that we would lose our insurance we didn’t push the issue. well in july of this year we received notice from allstate we were being dropped . i called to inquire as to why (we live north of i-10) they said we had no auto insurance with them. i offered to change my auto insurance to allstate and they said that it was too late we were already marked. i started checking quotes started at a 300% increase . several turned me down citing the age of my house. as of this date i have no homeowners. i still have a tarp on my roof, holes in the ceiling of our office, water stains in several places inside and out. we had enough, called allstate for an adjusters summary, got it and we were shocked at the vast under estimating that was done on our property ;$100 for our roof damage and this was pattern throughout our house.it should be criminal . we are currently seeking legal counsel. people will be losing their not because of bad loans, but because of crooked gretty insurnace companies.