Louisiana insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon explained last week on Angela Hill's radio show (at about minute 13:00) why our auto insurance is so high. Auto insurance rates in Jefferson, Orleans, and a couple of other parishes are 40% higher than rates in the rest of the state because of a prolific "soft tissue" market, Mr. Donelon said. That is, the proclivity of locals, aided by lawyers and doctors, towards seeking compensation for injuries resulting from auto accidents. It pains me to agree with that characterization of the local citizenry.
It also leaves alot unexplained, in my opinion. Seven years ago I paid about $74/mo. for a policy in Nashville with $100,000/$300,000 (100/300) limits and about $80/mo. for the same coverage in Chicago. When I moved back to New Orleans, I had to slash my coverage limits to 50/100 just to barely afford auto insurance here. Turns out I couldn't even barely afford it. I just plain could not afford it, not even if I doubled my deductible.
With each passing year, I tacked on 365 more days to my flawless driving record *knock on wood*. Still, my premiums continued to rise despite my car and me both being six years older and my having aged into an (allegedly) cheaper rating class; and five years into my move back home, I had to drop my coverage to the 25/50 state minimum.
Commissioner Donelon's explanation does not even come close to explaining why I and every Louisianian shell out 50% more money for about 1/5th of the coverage that we would get in other major cities. The WDSU report that ran last evening seems to confirm my hunch that the prevalent "soft tissue" industry is not to blame for much of this disparity in auto insurance rates because it only accounts for approximately 10% of the increased premium. That news story also makes very fuzzy links between a national rise in auto insurance fraud and cell-phone caused driver distraction, but Louisiana's ridiculously high insurance rates long pre-date either of those phenomena.
Even if auto insurance fraud accounts for 40% of our premiums in metro N.O., that does not satisfactorily explain why it's 40% more for WAY less coverage. I am, in fact, now paying 40% more than I paid in Chicago and Nashville, but shouldn't I be paying 40% more for 100/300 coverage instead of 40% more for shitty 25/50 coverage? Maybe there is an actuarial table somewhere that that backs up Mr. Donelon's explanation, but until I see it, I ain't buying it.
Showing posts with label fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fraud. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Real Story Behind Unpaid Sanitation Fees
UPDATED 8/28/2011: Through checking my phone bill and a little internet sleuthing (this nola.com story from April 2011), I'm pretty sure the collection agency that hit me up for "unpaid" sanitation fees that I already paid is Alpat Company, Inc. in Slidell.
Fox 8 ran this story tonight about Councilwoman Hedge-Morrell owing more than a couple of thousand dollars in sanitation fees.
Sadly, no one featured in this story -- not the outraged citizen, not Bureau of Governmental Research President Janet Howard, not Councilwoman Head, not the person who crafted the statement from Mayor Landrieu's office, and not even Councilwoman Hedge-Morrell -- seem to have a clue what's going on.
I think I do, and these folks should too. Have you ever directly paid your sanitation fee directly to the Sanitation Dept.? No. You pay it to the Sewerage and Water Board.
At the beginning of this year, I received a notice from a debt collection company hitting me up for about 3 months of unpaid sanitation fees. (Of course, the only thing I've thrown away in 25 years is the piece of paper with this company's name on it, but I do remember the company was in Slidell.) I spoke with a customer service rep at the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board who explained that when you pay your water bill late, they do not forward that month's fee for trash collection to the Sanitation Department. Thus, if you pay your bill even one day after the due date, SWB keeps your $24/month sanitation charge (+ your late fee, of course). You are still on the hook for the sanitation charge even though SWB has never informed us of this payment arrangement they have with the Sanitation Department and even though your next and subsequent bills don't show an unpaid sanitation fee balance.
The customer service rep, who was quite courteous and merely communicating SWB's policy, explained to me that, no, they do not show this on your bill. SWB, however, does keep track in your account file.
So, to sum it all up, because of a clandestine payment agreement between SWB and Sanitation:
So tell me, why don't any of the government officials featured in this story seem to know this? And why did Mayor Landrieu's office say they are working with SWB to improve collection efforts when the problem seems to largely be one of internal policies dictating how SWB applies payments it has already received -- not a problem of receiving the fees?
Fox 8 ran this story tonight about Councilwoman Hedge-Morrell owing more than a couple of thousand dollars in sanitation fees.
Sadly, no one featured in this story -- not the outraged citizen, not Bureau of Governmental Research President Janet Howard, not Councilwoman Head, not the person who crafted the statement from Mayor Landrieu's office, and not even Councilwoman Hedge-Morrell -- seem to have a clue what's going on.
I think I do, and these folks should too. Have you ever directly paid your sanitation fee directly to the Sanitation Dept.? No. You pay it to the Sewerage and Water Board.
At the beginning of this year, I received a notice from a debt collection company hitting me up for about 3 months of unpaid sanitation fees. (Of course, the only thing I've thrown away in 25 years is the piece of paper with this company's name on it, but I do remember the company was in Slidell.) I spoke with a customer service rep at the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board who explained that when you pay your water bill late, they do not forward that month's fee for trash collection to the Sanitation Department. Thus, if you pay your bill even one day after the due date, SWB keeps your $24/month sanitation charge (+ your late fee, of course). You are still on the hook for the sanitation charge even though SWB has never informed us of this payment arrangement they have with the Sanitation Department and even though your next and subsequent bills don't show an unpaid sanitation fee balance.
The customer service rep, who was quite courteous and merely communicating SWB's policy, explained to me that, no, they do not show this on your bill. SWB, however, does keep track in your account file.
So, to sum it all up, because of a clandestine payment agreement between SWB and Sanitation:
So tell me, why don't any of the government officials featured in this story seem to know this? And why did Mayor Landrieu's office say they are working with SWB to improve collection efforts when the problem seems to largely be one of internal policies dictating how SWB applies payments it has already received -- not a problem of receiving the fees?
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Insurance Companies to Alabama Tornado Victims: SCREW YOU
I sit here this morning left speechless by the scope of destruction left by numerous and massive tornadoes across Alabama and Georgia last night. Watching those scenes naturally triggered thoughts of the long post-Katrina recovery. I'm sure other survivors of that disaster also immediately felt empathy for what the unfortunate folks across the Deep South are about to go through. Once they are able to get past the first waves of shock and grief, the tornado victims will suffer the injustice of having their insurance companies turn their backs on them. For years they paid for a service and a sense of protection that they will not receive.
Like a good con artist, State Farm, Farmers, USAA Insurance, and other insurance companies collected decades' worth of premiums from Gulf Coast residents, and then just 3 months ago, started dropping their windstorm and hail coverage. The timing of those companies' collective decision is eerily prescient in this January 2011 story from Daphne, AL, in which a customer is told her wind and hailstorm coverage would be dropped in March 2011 - a little over a month before many Alabama residents would need that coverage.
WKRG.com News
God help the tornado victims and grant them the strength and resolve to obtain the compensation they are justly owed.
Like a good con artist, State Farm, Farmers, USAA Insurance, and other insurance companies collected decades' worth of premiums from Gulf Coast residents, and then just 3 months ago, started dropping their windstorm and hail coverage. The timing of those companies' collective decision is eerily prescient in this January 2011 story from Daphne, AL, in which a customer is told her wind and hailstorm coverage would be dropped in March 2011 - a little over a month before many Alabama residents would need that coverage.
WKRG.com News
God help the tornado victims and grant them the strength and resolve to obtain the compensation they are justly owed.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Jim Donelon Can Kiss My Ass on Canal Street!
State Farm will raise rates for mom-and-pop landlords, drop their wind and hail coverageWhile the statewide average rate increase is 18 percent, actual increases in South Louisiana can be much higher.
In Orleans, Jefferson and protected parts of St. Bernard and Plaquemines, the average increase will be 59.2 percent, according to State Farm; in areas outside of levees in Plaquemines it will be 93.8 percent; and in areas outside of levees in St. Bernard, it will be 21.1 percent. In St. Charles Parish, the average increase will be 19.2 percent. In St. James and St. John the Baptist, it will be 22.6 percent... Other coastal parishes will also see increases.
State Farm spokeswoman Molly Quirk said that part of the rate increase calculation is the value of cutting the wind and hail policy. [Times-Picayune, 1-16-2011]
Can someone explain how you can charge more for less coverage? How did that get past the Louisiana insurance commission, and how much is Insurance Commissioner Donelon profiting from this? What is he getting that's worth throwing us under a bus?
The article talks about how State Farm has also raised rates on other policies, which were so numerous they probably ran out of room to list the auto insurance increases I also received from State Farm over the past year. I was wondering how my rates could increase on an 11-year-old vehicle on which I cut my coverage IN HALF because I couldn't even afford the insurance before the rate increase. It seems the answers to my questions are to be found in them new fangled calculators the State Farm home office sent to Baton Rouge.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Like After Katrina, Outside Folks Getting the Disaster Contracts
The fine folk over at The Lens informed the citizenry today that "Gulf Coast states lag behind other states in getting contracts for oil disaster work." Only 12% of the $53.3 million in federal oil-spill related contracts have gone to Louisiana companies. Most of the rest of that has been contracted to companies in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Colorado -- not to other Gulf Coast states suffering the direct environmental and socioeconomic consequences of this disaster.
People in other states need work too, and it seems quite plausible to me that some of corporations best able to execute the particular terms of some contracts are not Gulf Coast business. Maybe many Gulf Coast businesses were already at full capacity due to having already received state or local contracts or contracts directly from BP to do disaster-related work.
My point is I just don't know enough about the details to know whether we're getting shafted down here in the federal contracting game for this disaster. I do know, based on past experience, that we need to dig deeper into this before it becomes like the Katrina recovery in which local workers were brazenly left out of the citizen driven recovery we were promised. That is, if it's not too late. I blogged about it on 9/16/2006, and I'm going to be quite pissed if this sort of thing is happening again...
...and we were supposed to have learned our lesson so that our federal government could protect us from shady contract deals.
I hope that last part didn't make you laugh TOO HARD.
People in other states need work too, and it seems quite plausible to me that some of corporations best able to execute the particular terms of some contracts are not Gulf Coast business. Maybe many Gulf Coast businesses were already at full capacity due to having already received state or local contracts or contracts directly from BP to do disaster-related work.
My point is I just don't know enough about the details to know whether we're getting shafted down here in the federal contracting game for this disaster. I do know, based on past experience, that we need to dig deeper into this before it becomes like the Katrina recovery in which local workers were brazenly left out of the citizen driven recovery we were promised. That is, if it's not too late. I blogged about it on 9/16/2006, and I'm going to be quite pissed if this sort of thing is happening again...
The Army Corps, Bechtel and Halliburton are using the very same "contract vehicles" in the Gulf Coast as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq. These are "indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity" open-ended "contingency" contracts that are being abused by the contractors on the Gulf Coast to squeeze out local companies. These are also "cost-plus" contracts that allow them to collect a profit on everything they spend, which is an incentive to overspend. [Corpwatch.org, 8/17/2006]
...and we were supposed to have learned our lesson so that our federal government could protect us from shady contract deals.
I hope that last part didn't make you laugh TOO HARD.Monday, December 28, 2009
Interesting Takes on the Jeff Parish Christmas Special
I thought the following nola.com comments on the gift exchange between Pres. Broussard and his appointees were interesting.
I hope so, "jimmylikesnola." Just make sure you have friends standing nearby to fish you out when you get tired swimming, and sinking down into the cesspool with the rest of 'em starts to look like an attractive option.
Angela...now that's a person who could blow this wide open !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by FauxU December 28, 2009, 12:53AM
$1352 paid by the tax payer/political contributor and he gets back $4775. He's more reasonable at controlling the cost to the taxpayer when it comes to rewarding himself. At least he doesn't waste $10,000 in tax payer money to get only a $1000 in his pocket. He should get the good government award.It might not be above the IRS limits, but it is above the monetary limits set by the state ethics board for receiving gifts.
Posted by mayormustgo December 27, 2009, 7:38AM
Whatever happened to everyone pitching in and buying a tie as a gift. This stinks. All tax free gifts to their bosses, with money from taxpayer paid salaries. The citizens of Jefferson actually paid for these gifts. This gets worse every day. I wonder if someone did not pay, would they get canned immediately, or have all the rights and the delays given to Whitmer. . Just remember all this as you write your property tax check, or you pay for the short yellow light you got caught at. Jim Letten, please stop this, everyone else in the state just ignores it.
Posted by leveeliar December 27, 2009, 8:32AM
Same thing is happening in Plaquemines, at will employees need some protection from these criminals...
Posted by plaqer December 27, 2009, 8:52AM
Can Aaron Broussard spend campaign money legally for holiday gifts for his employees? I don't think so! The U.S. Attorney should look at the Aaron Broussard President Campaign Committee (run by attorney David Sherman) and the Tim Coulon Campaign Committree (run by Tim Whitmer and Tom Wilkerson). These campaign committees are used to laundry money and avoid taxes.Posted by crabstew December 27, 2009, 9:02AM
These are the same idiots that had no problem cutting from the budget, tenure pay that hourly employees receive at christmas time. To earn tenure pay you have to be with the parish two years, and from that point you would receive $25 for each year of service. This is given by check where TAXES are deducted. A ten year employee receives less than $200.
Posted by carlielynn December 27, 2009, 9:21AM
These corrupt idiots will force honest, hard working businessmen like me to jump into the political cesspool and straighten up our system. WE THE PEOPLE will have our day.
Posted by jimmylikesnola December 27, 2009, 9:59AM
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Spin, Lie, or Fraud?
With Jindal's administration continuing to distort reality and turn truth on its head to convince us to support its misplaced priorities, the latest directives from the governor's office can be aptly described by all of the words in the above title. Their latest attempt to convince us that closing N.O. Adolescent Hospital (NOAH) does not amount to a reduction in services took the form of an editorial yesterday in the Times-Picayune written by DHH Secretary Alan Levine.
It is one of the most dishonest opinion pieces I have ever read.
Levine tries to convince us that because the state spent millions expanding community health care services in N.O. that there is no longer as much of a need for inpatient psychiatric hospitalization (which strikes me as a point DHH wouldn't have to keep pushing if they really felt they were not REDUCING services in the N.O. area -- but that's just my crazy, bizarre opinion). True, assertive mental health services were expanded last year under Nicola's Law, according to this T-P article which also points out that there are little data to support the supposition that such services reduce the need for psychiatric hospitalization.
Such services are partly granted through various "waivers" which provide services like home health care aides who help families care for developmentally delayed individuals and those with severe behavioral and emotional problems. Something Levine conspicuously failed to mention, as he touted the hundreds of children and adults now served by last year's increase in mental health funding, is that there are many more on the waiting lists for these services. One family in our clinic has been waiting 5 years for their waiver (a VERY common wait time), yet DHH is cutting the meager funding for the waivers they provide (see page 14 of linked-to document) while simultaneously rejecting stimulus money to save healthcare from budget cuts. Another thing he left out, when saying "fewer than 15% of the referrals from the mental health Emergency Room at University Hospital are referred to NOAH," was the number of referrals that actually refers to. Also, that percentage has probably plummeted since the state already quietly closed an adult psychiatric unit housed at NOAH 2 months ago.
But back to the issue at hand: NOAH. Secretary Levine's reasoning that NOAH can be safely "moved" (DHH's euphemism) because there are more outpatient services now defies not only logic but also common sense for the same reason that having a primary physician in no way means one will never need hospitalization. Family physicians can no more treat heart attacks, strokes, and traumatic brain injury in their offices than can mental health providers treat psychiatric emergencies on comfortable office couches.
Levine insists: "Our proposal does not reduce the number of mental health beds." He forgot to add in New Orleans at the end of that sentence because when you add those 3 words to this new DHH mantra, it translates into: There will be ZERO publicly funded inpatient psychiatric hospital beds for children and adolescents by the time we get through screwing New Orleans, who by the way did not vote for Gov. Jindal...not that our decisions have anything to do with that fact. If you're a master of subtlety and reading between the lines, you might have picked up the slightly different meaning those 3 little words add.
Yup, I can spin with the best of 'em!
As for fraud, I am sad to say that Secretary Levine has intentionally tried to deceive us when he said: "less than 35 percent of the children treated at NOAH are even from New Orleans." There really is no excuse for trying to slide this piece of misleading info into the mix when just a few weeks ago Arnie Fielkow and Shelly Midura exposed DHH Deputy Secretary Sybil Richard for attempting the same act of deceipt at a city council Subcommittee on Mental Health meeting on March 27. Yes, 35% come from Orleans Parish, followed by another 40% or so from Jefferson Parish. I'm willing to bet the ones that also come from St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, Terrebonne, and Lafourche also would not appreciate an even longer drive than they already have to see their hospitalized children.
Honestly, I do not know why the state is putting the entire southshore in such dire straits. I'd ask them, but I doubt they'd tell me the truth anyway.
It is one of the most dishonest opinion pieces I have ever read.
Levine tries to convince us that because the state spent millions expanding community health care services in N.O. that there is no longer as much of a need for inpatient psychiatric hospitalization (which strikes me as a point DHH wouldn't have to keep pushing if they really felt they were not REDUCING services in the N.O. area -- but that's just my crazy, bizarre opinion). True, assertive mental health services were expanded last year under Nicola's Law, according to this T-P article which also points out that there are little data to support the supposition that such services reduce the need for psychiatric hospitalization.
Such services are partly granted through various "waivers" which provide services like home health care aides who help families care for developmentally delayed individuals and those with severe behavioral and emotional problems. Something Levine conspicuously failed to mention, as he touted the hundreds of children and adults now served by last year's increase in mental health funding, is that there are many more on the waiting lists for these services. One family in our clinic has been waiting 5 years for their waiver (a VERY common wait time), yet DHH is cutting the meager funding for the waivers they provide (see page 14 of linked-to document) while simultaneously rejecting stimulus money to save healthcare from budget cuts. Another thing he left out, when saying "fewer than 15% of the referrals from the mental health Emergency Room at University Hospital are referred to NOAH," was the number of referrals that actually refers to. Also, that percentage has probably plummeted since the state already quietly closed an adult psychiatric unit housed at NOAH 2 months ago.
But back to the issue at hand: NOAH. Secretary Levine's reasoning that NOAH can be safely "moved" (DHH's euphemism) because there are more outpatient services now defies not only logic but also common sense for the same reason that having a primary physician in no way means one will never need hospitalization. Family physicians can no more treat heart attacks, strokes, and traumatic brain injury in their offices than can mental health providers treat psychiatric emergencies on comfortable office couches.
Levine insists: "Our proposal does not reduce the number of mental health beds." He forgot to add in New Orleans at the end of that sentence because when you add those 3 words to this new DHH mantra, it translates into: There will be ZERO publicly funded inpatient psychiatric hospital beds for children and adolescents by the time we get through screwing New Orleans, who by the way did not vote for Gov. Jindal...not that our decisions have anything to do with that fact. If you're a master of subtlety and reading between the lines, you might have picked up the slightly different meaning those 3 little words add.
Yup, I can spin with the best of 'em!
As for fraud, I am sad to say that Secretary Levine has intentionally tried to deceive us when he said: "less than 35 percent of the children treated at NOAH are even from New Orleans." There really is no excuse for trying to slide this piece of misleading info into the mix when just a few weeks ago Arnie Fielkow and Shelly Midura exposed DHH Deputy Secretary Sybil Richard for attempting the same act of deceipt at a city council Subcommittee on Mental Health meeting on March 27. Yes, 35% come from Orleans Parish, followed by another 40% or so from Jefferson Parish. I'm willing to bet the ones that also come from St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, Terrebonne, and Lafourche also would not appreciate an even longer drive than they already have to see their hospitalized children.
Honestly, I do not know why the state is putting the entire southshore in such dire straits. I'd ask them, but I doubt they'd tell me the truth anyway.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The McCain Economic Plan: Hoping Your Memory Is Failing Too
If you're wondering where I get my sharp, analytical eye, I must admit it's genetic. In this special Guest Blogger edition, I feature none other than Aunt Nee-Nee! Take it away:
McCains economic advisor is an executive at Swiss bank (in the US). The headlines say it all- McCain's man got paid to push an agenda. The world's worst president Bush at least waited until he was president before he said bend over.
1. $30BB to bail out Bear Sterns. Jacks$%t for the people losing their homes.
2. The Glass-Stegal Act was put in place when the collapse of Wall Street brought about the Great Depression. In 1999 McCain's economic advisor did away with that regulation, leading to the sub-prime mortgage debacle.
3. "McCain is counting on people having very short memories. and not being able to connect the dots." Sorry honey, we are in a failing economy. I'm reminded of this everyday. My memory would have to be gone, comatose like, not just short.
Well said, Nee Nee.
I'll only add that her timing in emailing this was quite uncanny because only days after receiving this, I was reading a book called Elite Deviance which mentioned McCain as one of a group of senators (one of whom was censured by Congress) who were instrumental in crafting a government bailout of the architects of the S&L Scandal, a.k.a. the costliest crime in the history of the United States. And I'm not being all hysterical in calling it a "crime"; people were sent to prison over this. Anyway, McCain's at it again, which is good news for those of you who miss the crime-ridden, high inflation / stagnation, jobless days of Reagan's era that McCain is very clear about his intention to recreate via his proposed policies.
But please know this: if you so much as even entertain buying a 50-cent McCain '08 bumper sticker, and I hear you complain about the price of gas or food, I will bitchslap the shit out of you.
Praise Jesus.
McCains economic advisor is an executive at Swiss bank (in the US). The headlines say it all- McCain's man got paid to push an agenda. The world's worst president Bush at least waited until he was president before he said bend over.
1. $30BB to bail out Bear Sterns. Jacks$%t for the people losing their homes.
2. The Glass-Stegal Act was put in place when the collapse of Wall Street brought about the Great Depression. In 1999 McCain's economic advisor did away with that regulation, leading to the sub-prime mortgage debacle.
3. "McCain is counting on people having very short memories. and not being able to connect the dots." Sorry honey, we are in a failing economy. I'm reminded of this everyday. My memory would have to be gone, comatose like, not just short.
Well said, Nee Nee.
I'll only add that her timing in emailing this was quite uncanny because only days after receiving this, I was reading a book called Elite Deviance which mentioned McCain as one of a group of senators (one of whom was censured by Congress) who were instrumental in crafting a government bailout of the architects of the S&L Scandal, a.k.a. the costliest crime in the history of the United States. And I'm not being all hysterical in calling it a "crime"; people were sent to prison over this. Anyway, McCain's at it again, which is good news for those of you who miss the crime-ridden, high inflation / stagnation, jobless days of Reagan's era that McCain is very clear about his intention to recreate via his proposed policies.
But please know this: if you so much as even entertain buying a 50-cent McCain '08 bumper sticker, and I hear you complain about the price of gas or food, I will bitchslap the shit out of you.
Praise Jesus.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Insurance is a Fraud
SUCH A FREAKIN' FRAUD! I'd call it a "joke" if it weren't so immoral, or if it didn't make me want to cry from utter hopelessness everytime I think about it. So what the hell am I rambling about, you ask? The following is written VERBATIM in State Farm's Louisiana renter's insurance policy under the section titled "Losses Insured":
OK, simple enough. Right? One would think -- until one turns to the very next page titled "Losses Not Insured" and reads the following regarding "nuclear hazards":
My initial involuntary reaction was: "huh?", followed by the quickly growing realization of "WHAT THE F*-K IS THIS?!?"
What it is is a shameless, unconscionable, blatant tactic that allows the company to "rightfully" decide that they don't feel like compensating you for a particular loss.
"1. Fire or lightning"
OK, simple enough. Right? One would think -- until one turns to the very next page titled "Losses Not Insured" and reads the following regarding "nuclear hazards":
"Loss caused by the nuclear hazard shall not be considered loss caused by fire, explosion or smoke.
However, we do insure for any direct loss by fire resulting from the nuclear hazard, provided the resulting fire loss is itself a Loss Insured."
My initial involuntary reaction was: "huh?", followed by the quickly growing realization of "WHAT THE F*-K IS THIS?!?"
What it is is a shameless, unconscionable, blatant tactic that allows the company to "rightfully" decide that they don't feel like compensating you for a particular loss.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Maybe Travelers' Insurance was right to limit their risk exposure by pulling out of the south Louisiana market. After all, they only netted $3.019 billion in net income from Jan. 2006 to Sept. 2006.
With all the storms last year, they were barely solvent, as 2005 brought in a mere $24.4 billion in revenue and left them with a paltry $113 billion in total assets.
Like they said on page 5 of their annual financial report, these disasters totally caught them off guard:
we believe it is the job of insurers to understand the changing weather cycles – which we have evaluated and assessed for years – and price risks accordingly.
Maybe I was being too hard on them in my previous post. At least they aren't retaliating against angry consumers for filing lawsuits based on this ludicrous notion that insurance companies are supposed to cover hurricane damage just because they paid increased premiums for living in hurricane prone areas. This is an honest industry after all, and there is no way they would engage in unethical behavior...
"we may incur loss and loss adjustment expenses as a result of disclosures by, and investigations of, companies for which we have written directors' and officers' insurance relating to possible accounting irregularities, corporate governance issues and stock option "backdating," "spring loading" and other stock option grant practices; the insurance industry, including us, is the subject of a number of investigations by state and federal authorities in the United States, and we cannot predict the outcome of these investigations or their impact on our business or financial results; our businesses are heavily regulated and changes in regulation may reduce our profitability and limit our growth;"
With all the storms last year, they were barely solvent, as 2005 brought in a mere $24.4 billion in revenue and left them with a paltry $113 billion in total assets.
Like they said on page 5 of their annual financial report, these disasters totally caught them off guard:
we believe it is the job of insurers to understand the changing weather cycles – which we have evaluated and assessed for years – and price risks accordingly.
Maybe I was being too hard on them in my previous post. At least they aren't retaliating against angry consumers for filing lawsuits based on this ludicrous notion that insurance companies are supposed to cover hurricane damage just because they paid increased premiums for living in hurricane prone areas. This is an honest industry after all, and there is no way they would engage in unethical behavior...
"we may incur loss and loss adjustment expenses as a result of disclosures by, and investigations of, companies for which we have written directors' and officers' insurance relating to possible accounting irregularities, corporate governance issues and stock option "backdating," "spring loading" and other stock option grant practices; the insurance industry, including us, is the subject of a number of investigations by state and federal authorities in the United States, and we cannot predict the outcome of these investigations or their impact on our business or financial results; our businesses are heavily regulated and changes in regulation may reduce our profitability and limit our growth;"
Saturday, December 02, 2006
And Now, A Heartfelt Message to Travelers Insurance Co.
(A letter I intended to just post, but I think I will really send it to the bastards.)
Dear St. Paul Travelers Cos., Inc.,
I understand that your company, the largest commercial insurance provider in the state of Louisiana, will cancel all commercial insurance policies in the New Orleans area, effective immediately. Your clarification that this will occur over the next 12 months via the non-renewal of current policies is: 1) no consolation; 2) the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig; and 3) a poor attempt to dress up ruthless corporate behavior (see #2). Furthermore, your spokeswoman's comment that this move does not affect residential customers is idiotic and just plain stupid even. For one, how will your residential policy holders afford homeowner's insurance if the companies they work for or own go out of business after not being able to rebuild? Second, I am sure that the homeowners who can will cancel their Travelers policies ASAP. Of course, this is probably what you want since it will save you the trouble of doing it yourselves, as such a shameful move cannot be far off.
The reasoning that you are limiting your risk exposure implies that: 1) you think we are idiots who, 2) don't understand that the whole purpose of the insurance industry is to profit from your customers' risk exposure. Let me explain, in case you missed that day of orientation. You see, you are supposed to take risks. We take the risk that we will need your coverage; and you take the risk that we will not. Sometimes the consumer wins; sometimes Travelers wins. By pulling out of this market, you are trying to ensure that you win every time, now that we have paid you handsomely with several years of increased premiums that you levied to mitigate your risk exposure.
Your risk analysts and risk assessments, I am sure, made you well aware of the chances of this market facing the disaster it did in August 2005. You knew of this risk from the day you began writing policies, and any claim to the contrary implies again that: 1) you think we are idiots who, 2) don't understand that the whole purpose of the insurance industry is to profit from your customers' risk exposure.
I am sure that none of this matters, but I just wanted you to understand why I wrote this letter in the first place, which was out of my desire to say: May others treat you as you have treated others, and may those responsible for this decision rot in the most horrendous realm of hell -- and if hell doesn't exist, may all of the business owners whom you are putting out of business and their unemployed workers use their newfound free time to build one especially for you. And THAT, is my heartfelt message to you.
Dear St. Paul Travelers Cos., Inc.,
I understand that your company, the largest commercial insurance provider in the state of Louisiana, will cancel all commercial insurance policies in the New Orleans area, effective immediately. Your clarification that this will occur over the next 12 months via the non-renewal of current policies is: 1) no consolation; 2) the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig; and 3) a poor attempt to dress up ruthless corporate behavior (see #2). Furthermore, your spokeswoman's comment that this move does not affect residential customers is idiotic and just plain stupid even. For one, how will your residential policy holders afford homeowner's insurance if the companies they work for or own go out of business after not being able to rebuild? Second, I am sure that the homeowners who can will cancel their Travelers policies ASAP. Of course, this is probably what you want since it will save you the trouble of doing it yourselves, as such a shameful move cannot be far off.
The reasoning that you are limiting your risk exposure implies that: 1) you think we are idiots who, 2) don't understand that the whole purpose of the insurance industry is to profit from your customers' risk exposure. Let me explain, in case you missed that day of orientation. You see, you are supposed to take risks. We take the risk that we will need your coverage; and you take the risk that we will not. Sometimes the consumer wins; sometimes Travelers wins. By pulling out of this market, you are trying to ensure that you win every time, now that we have paid you handsomely with several years of increased premiums that you levied to mitigate your risk exposure.
Your risk analysts and risk assessments, I am sure, made you well aware of the chances of this market facing the disaster it did in August 2005. You knew of this risk from the day you began writing policies, and any claim to the contrary implies again that: 1) you think we are idiots who, 2) don't understand that the whole purpose of the insurance industry is to profit from your customers' risk exposure.
I am sure that none of this matters, but I just wanted you to understand why I wrote this letter in the first place, which was out of my desire to say: May others treat you as you have treated others, and may those responsible for this decision rot in the most horrendous realm of hell -- and if hell doesn't exist, may all of the business owners whom you are putting out of business and their unemployed workers use their newfound free time to build one especially for you. And THAT, is my heartfelt message to you.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
What's the Rush?
I'm not even getting Road Home money, but I just about blew my top when I read this. If this ain't a way for another company to get money that could be going to actual rebuilding, I'll go St. Louis Cathedral for Mass Sunday dressed as the Pope -- in a cocktail dress.
From www.wwltv.com:
"Those waiting for money from the Louisiana Road Home program will have to wait a bit longer to get the actual cash as the group disbursing the funds is requiring that they be made to a bank or mortgage company, which will then dole it out in three payments as work is done on your home or when you purchase a new one.
Are these people fucking allergic to actually HELPING anyone?!
From www.wwltv.com:
"Those waiting for money from the Louisiana Road Home program will have to wait a bit longer to get the actual cash as the group disbursing the funds is requiring that they be made to a bank or mortgage company, which will then dole it out in three payments as work is done on your home or when you purchase a new one.
The requirement that the money go to a mortgage company or a bank first, even extends to those who have already paid off their mortgages.
Susan Elkins of the State Office of Community Development says that negotiations are underway with a mortgage company that will disburse funds to people who have completely paid off their home loans."
Are these people fucking allergic to actually HELPING anyone?!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Ohhhh, Alberto!
Oh look, Albie! Here's some FEMA fraud you can prosecute!
It's been about a month since CorpWatch released their report on disaster area profiteering. So, Albie, the good American taxpaying folks down here, scraping by financially since we haven't seen that post-disaster economic boon we been promised, were just wondering what progress the good ole U.S. of A. Attorney General's office has been making in cracking down on THESE fraudulent disaster claims.
The Army Corps, Bechtel and Halliburton are using the very same "contract vehicles" in the Gulf Coast as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq. These are "indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity" open-ended "contingency" contracts that are being abused by the contractors on the Gulf Coast to squeeze out local companies. These are also "cost-plus" contracts that allow them to collect a profit on everything they spend, which is an incentive to overspend.
Hmmm...I wonder where that economic boon is?
It's been about a month since CorpWatch released their report on disaster area profiteering. So, Albie, the good American taxpaying folks down here, scraping by financially since we haven't seen that post-disaster economic boon we been promised, were just wondering what progress the good ole U.S. of A. Attorney General's office has been making in cracking down on THESE fraudulent disaster claims.
The Army Corps, Bechtel and Halliburton are using the very same "contract vehicles" in the Gulf Coast as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq. These are "indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity" open-ended "contingency" contracts that are being abused by the contractors on the Gulf Coast to squeeze out local companies. These are also "cost-plus" contracts that allow them to collect a profit on everything they spend, which is an incentive to overspend.
Hmmm...I wonder where that economic boon is?
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