Editorial

Insurance injustice

Wednesday, July 2, 2003

Dear Editor,

For 15 years, my husband and I have carried property and auto insurance with a local company. In all of those years, we never missed or were late with premiums that total more than $20,000. During late 2000 and mid-2001, we made three claims, two of which were weather induced, and the other was water damage.

So, for 13 years we paid in premiums without placing any kind of a claim, always fixing the minor problems ourselves.

Last week we were informed that the company would no longer cover our property due to multiple claims. I wonder why it took them two years to make that decision?

I question the insurance companies' (not just ours) policies, if they are going to drop your coverage if you make claims, no matter how large or frequent they may be. If a person pays premiums for coverage the company supplies, there should not be a problem with the company paying for the claim, especially because it is the company's adjuster who verifies legitimate damage. It appears that they want the revenue from the policies, but they don't want to pay off on claims.

It seems to me that doing business in this manner is fraud!

If insurance companies choose to change their policy on claims, that is their business, but they should have to continue to honor policies issued prior to the changes. They should not be allowed to dispose of clients because they no longer want to honor policies that they have drawn revenue from for years.

I am aware that we are not alone with this problem. It is happening all over the country. Fixed-income people can no longer afford property insurance unless they accept a high deductible that they, most likely, are unable to pay if they do need to make a claim.

In our case, in order to retain our insurance, we have had to agree to a deductible increase from $250 up to $1,000.

Doing without insurance is not an option. The state requires it on automobiles, and Mother Nature demands it on our homes. There must be something that can be done about this major problem for the taxpayer! If this is left to follow its present course, we will soon be faced with the same problems with this type of insurance that we now have with medical coverage.

Periodically, you print the addresses and phone numbers of our Nebraska Senators and Congressmen.

Please do so again and I strongly urge people to write, call or both, and express your concerns. If we don't speak out, nothing will change. The insurance companies will continue to collect our money, and then punish, or dispose of us, if we need the assistance that we have paid for.

Thank you,

Sandy Clevenger

Culbertson

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