Insurance: Catastrophic coverage the answer?

July 20, 2007

Fourth District U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor may have an answer for providing affordable coverage for Mississippi Gulf Coast residents and businesses.

His bill, HR 920, to expand federal flood insurance to include wind damage was the subject of three hours of debate before a congressional subcommittee Tuesday and, despite vehement opposition by the insurance industry, seemed to win support.

His Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2007 received a boost by a letter sent to the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity by Gov. Haley Barbour in support of the bill.

"Hurricane Katrina demonstrated holes in the private insurance market and the National Flood Insurance Program and I support Congress considering legislation which would create a new program in the National Flood Insurance Program to enable the purchase of wind and flood risk in one policy," Barbour's letter said.

Calling it "a failed system," Barbour said the Coast's recovery has suffered because private wind coverage is scarce and premiums in the state's insurance of last resort, the wind pool, or Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association, have skyrocketed.

As shown by The Clarion-Ledger's May report "Rebuilding the Coast," until insurance issues are solved, recovery will lag.

Gov. Barbour's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal in its report, After Katrina: Building Back Better Than Ever (www.governorscommission.com), offered a tremendous blueprint in the wake of the storm. But efforts have been stymied by the lack of available and affordable insurance.

"Greed is the main disconnect in this situation," said Taylor, according to the Gulfport/Biloxi Sun Herald newspaper.

"It's easy for them to walk around in their Gucci suits and defend their companies, but the reality is down there on the Gulf Coast, where all of the destroyed homes and property of my constituents are," Taylor said. "Of course, these companies don't want to change the rules that are currently in their favor."

A vote by the subcommittee on the bill to move it to the full House could come before the August recess.

Posters in clarionledger.com's StoryChat Mississippi Insurance Forum are already debating the potential effects of such a bill.

Said one: "Haley has been right on the money for every key Coast issue and we need to encourage him to help get HR 920 passed. If it passes, the Coast will boom and Mississippi will never be last again."

Original article at Clarion-Ledger.

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Toxic trailers affecting health, well-being

SUSAN WALSH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FEMA Administrator David Paulison, center, listens as former FEMA trailer occupant Paul Stewart, left, testifies before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on his health problems while living in a FEMA trailer after Hurricane Katrina. Lindsay Huckabee, who also lives in a FEMA trailer, is at right.

By BRANDON PARKER and MICHAEL A. BELL
SUN HERALD

At work and at home, Kathy James and Patricia Spain said they are constantly breathing in formaldehyde.

The women work for the Department of Human Services, where temporary trailers were erected after Hurricane Katrina damaged the facility. The women also live in FEMA trailers.

When they leave for work in the mornings, the one thing they can't forget is to open the windows.

"If not, if closed up during the summer, oh, gosh, you open that doors, it's like 'whew - that chemical smell'," said James, a 47-year-old Pass Christian resident.

"It's like when you can't breathe through your nose," she said of some of the symptoms she experiences. "Just a sore throat feeling... . like you have a sinus infection."

The problems began as soon as James moved into her trailer in December 2005. Two months earlier, Spain, 56, moved into her FEMA trailer and experienced similar symptoms.

"I do have sinus infections," she said, adding she constantly is fatigued and is unable to complete simple tasks. Asked to elaborate on how it affects her personally, she said she becomes depressed. "I just stay that way," she said.

"I know... this won't last forever," Spain said. "But that's not the way that I feel."

In Washington on Thursday, the House subcommittee on Oversight and Government Reform heard tales like these that supported their findings that FEMA lawyers discouraged investigations of high formaldehyde levels in Coast FEMA trailers.
Subcommittee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., called the situation "sickening."

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said he sent a letter Feb. 22 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when he heard about the formaldehyde complaints. After not receiving a response until the end of May, Taylor said he knew the FEMA trailer program was in deep trouble.

"FEMA's trailer program has been so horribly mismanaged, I feel inadequate in finding the words to describe it," he said Thursday. "We've tried to work with them in every instance and show them better and more efficient ways to do things, but they have just ignored our efforts.

"This is just another example of a really inept response to the nation's worst natural disaster," he continued. "As someone who represents southern Mississippi, we are still grateful for trailers that were paid for and provided. But we also know the value of a dollar, so we wanted to see things done in [an] efficient and fair manner."

Asked how lawmakers can get FEMA to admit responsibility, Taylor said, "the only way they'll admit the mistake is if you embarrass them."

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., has grown accustomed to the post-Katrina woes of the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"If the allegations are true, it unfortunately wouldn't be too surprising to South Mississippians, who've had firsthand experience with FEMA since Katrina," said Lee Youngblood, a spokesman for Lott.

"Sen. Lott still believes in many respects (that FEMA) remains a big, out-of-control federal bureaucracy with too much red tape and not enough people willing to take responsibility."

Waxman echoed Lott's demand that those responsible be held accountable.
He said the committee's documents revealed "mistakes and misjudgments."

"We need to learn from them to identify what needs to be fixed to protect the health of the thousands of families still living in FEMA trailers," he said. "And we should do everything we can to make sure that this disgraceful conduct never happens again."

Original post at Sun Herald.

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FEMA Failures Meet Democratic Oversight

by Ana Maria

"We have lost a great deal through our dealings with FEMA," said Paul Stewart, a former Army officer living in a trailer with his wife in Mississippi, "not the least of which is our faith in government."

When a retired military officer has lost faith in Bush’s government, that is a bell weather indicator of what many of us predicted since that horrendous day back in December 2000.

You remember that day in December in which the United States Supreme Court legally stopped the vote counting in a U.S. election. The self-proclaimed greatest democracy on the planet no longer believed that counting the votes counted in determining an election outcome. The case was Bush v. Gore, and a New York Times editorial last August summarized it succinctly.

The Supreme Court’s highly partisan resolution of the 2000 election was a severe blow to American democracy . . ..

And what we’ve learned since that day is just how true it is when we say that elections have consequences. Here we are with another set of scandals that negatively impact American lives directly in a real and palpable manner. One scandal centers on millions of dollars of ice for hurricane survivors melting in the sun. The other on FEMA deliberately weighing the cost of lawsuits against testing for the adverse health effects of its formaldehyde-filled trailers.

Burning Mad
Memphis, Tenn., news organizations reported “[h]undreds of bags of ice once intended for hurricane victims have been melting outside a Memphis warehouse for days and could pose a health risk if consumed. The Federal Emergency Management Agency bought the ice in November 2005 to use during long power outages, like those brought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.” This is outrageous!

This past weekend, I watched another of Greg Palast’s riveting investigations, Big Easy to Big Empty. I highly recommend it. Palast told the story of a grandfather who gave his grandchildren his last bottle of drinking water. The grandfather died of dehydration.

Days after watching Big Easy to Big Empty, I learn what FEMA did with the ice that could have saved lives such as the grandfather who died of dehydration.



FEMA ice melting in Tennessee 2 years after hurricane

According to the FEMA Web site, the agency had 430 truckloads of ice in 2005. It increased the amount by 400 percent -- 2,150 truckloads -- for the following year. That's enough to provide ice to more than 1 million people for up to 10 days.

One million people?! For 10 days!!! That would have more than helped the entire Katrina-ravaged region to stay hydrated. Apparently, FEMA didn’t bother to have this kind of foresight before Katrina and Rita. That would require planning . . . and caring. Two traits that elude the Bush-Cheney Administration.

On July 4th, the daily Memphis paper, The Commercial Appeal reported "[h]undreds of bags of ice once designated for hurricane victims have sat melting outside an AmeriCold Logistics warehouse . . . Congressman Steve Cohen said citizens have been carting off some of the ice, and he's worried it may pose a health risk." On July 3rd, Cohen actually saw people taking the abandoned ice. Then the company itself moved the ice to garbage cans. What a waste!

"It is appalling to learn of the waste of $67 million in taxpayer money for the purchase, transportation and storage of ice," [Congressman Steve] Cohen
wrote in a letter to [FEMA Director David] Paulison Wednesday. "That an additional $3.4 million is being paid to melt the ice is unconscionable. To consider such waste a part of doing business is a slap in the face of hardworking Americans whose taxes pay our salaries."

FEMA takes heat for ice boondoggle
Cohen vilifies waste of the public's $70 million
July 19, 2007

Cohen on the phone with FEMA about the ice melting in the Memphis sun.
Rep. Steve Cohen
Submitted by WDEF on July 4, 2007 - 5:50pm

Newly elected to Congress last November to represent the greater Memphis area of Tennessee, Cohen (D-TN) has a lifelong history of fiscal responsibility and fighting to protect the public trust. As his website accurately states, he "never falter[s] in his fight for those who do not have the power bestowed by wealth and advantage, realizing that the American dream cannot flourish without constant rededication to its principle." We need more like him in Congress, the U.S. Senate, and the White House.

FEMA’s Headaches
Today, I went inside of a FEMA formaldehyde-filled trailer for the first time. I am coordinating the volunteers who are coming down next month to work on the home of this elderly retired public school teacher whom I love so much that I refer to her as “aunt.” For well over a year now, she and her family—including her school age great grandchild who lives with her—have been breathing in the formaldehyde.

As I sat next to her, my previous piece titled Formaldehyde-Filled FEMA Trailers went through my mind a time or two. I do hope that we can get things situated to move her back into her home by Labor Day. The air in those tiny Barbie doll sized trailers is hazardous to breathe.

When I came home, my FEMA education continued as I read the Washington Post.

. . . since early 2006 [FEMA] has suppressed warnings from its own field workers
about health problems experienced by hurricane victims living in government-provided trailers with levels of a toxic chemical 75 times the recommended maximum for U.S. workers, congressional lawmakers said . . . .

Excuse me?! They have known since a few months after Katrina that these sardine can sized trailers were toxic to the degree of being 75 times the healthy level?! Moreover, they knew of the toxicity in early 2006.

Today’s Washington Post is reporting

On June 16, 2006, three months after reports of the hazards surfaced and a month after a trailer resident sued the agency, a FEMA logistics expert wrote that the agency's Office of General Counsel "has advised that we do not do testing, which would imply FEMA's ownership of this issue." A FEMA lawyer, Patrick Preston, wrote on June 15: "Do not initiate any testing until we give the OK. . . . Once you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them."

What is this? Be responsible, test the FEMA air, protect the American families living in them . . . or be absolutely vile, contemptible, evil. Apparently, Bush’s FEMA has opted for the latter and adopted the Pinto Profit Protection Plan as the lens through which to cost out its options.

Remember the 1970’s case in which Ford decided that it would be financially cheaper for the company to forgo spending the $10 per car to fix the Pinto’s exploding gas tank. The corporation deliberately decided to allow its car to injure families then settle the cases with those individuals that actually pursued a legal case against the Ford Corporation.

My, oh my, oh my. Another of the Bush Administration’s vain attempt to pretend that the emperor has no clothes.

Thankfully, Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is politically smart, savvy, and sophisticated. He calls a spade a shovel. When necessary, he picks it up and hits up side the head whomever seems to be needing a verbal hit up side his or her head. At yesterday’s hearing, it was FEMA director, David Paulison. Waxman referred to FEMA’s perspective as “sickening.” At the hearing, Waxman said,

"The nearly 5,000 pages of documents we've reviewed expose an official policy of pre- meditated ignorance." He also criticized the testing standards that FEMA and the Environ- mental Protection Agency used before they even- tually came to the incorrect conclusion, as Paulison stated in May 2007, that "the formaldehyde does not present a health hazard." Trailers were left with windows ajar, air conditioning on and all vents open for days before interior air levels were tested for the gas — conditions that did not nearly approxi- mate actual living conditions. It was only almost a year and a half after the first complaint — and with the looming prospect of a con- gressional hearing — that FEMA decided to act. Just yesterday, the agency announced that it was teaming up with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct testing of the air quality in its trailers. [Emphasis added.]

Premeditated ignorance?! How loathsome. Yet, what did Bush’s FEMA director have to say about all of this?

"The health and safety of residents is my primary concern,"

David Paulison FEMA Director

Primary concern, my you-know-what! These folks feign compassion but their handling of Katrina’s before and aftermath demonstrates in clear and convincing ways that they care of no one but themselves and nothing but the Almighty Dollar.

Congressman Jim Cooper, a Democrat representing the Nashville area of Tennessee, spoke poignantly about Bush’s FEMA. "I haven't seen this level of government incompetence outside of the nation of China. . . . And they executed an official in China for not having done their job. No one is asking for that here, but how about a simple application of the golden rule?"

I’m a firm believer in the “what’s-good-for-the-goose” philosophy, myself, if you know what I mean. For the longest time, Paulison spouted the line that Bush’s FEMA trailers pose no real health threat then he and every FEMA employee that is marching in lock step with the White House talking points should demonstrate the strength of their convictions in the Bush Administration’s official advice. They should live in FEMA trailers for a few years.

Should they experience “headaches, burning eyes and throats, nausea and difficulty breathing” or if their noses start to bleed, they can just say a little prayer as they air out their trailers. When that doesn’t work, maybe they’ll turn in their faith-based, factually-free health recommendation for a dose of harsh reality. I wouldn’t count on it, though.The Bushies are more likely to hold their breath than to admit they deliberately deceived the American people with their willful neglect, stupidity, and blind faith in a White House that continues to betray the New Orleans and Mississippi Gulf Coast . . . along with everyone else from the East Coast to the West Coast. As they hold their breath, we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that at our fingertips we possess the tools to help bring about a better outcome for those families living in formaldehyde-filled FEMA trailers.

Today’s Political Hell Raising Activities center on thanking Congressman Henry Waxman and Congressman Steve Cohen for their leadership. Here are the activities for Waxman, and here for the activities for Cohen. Think about it. When someone unexpectedly praises us for something at work or home, we beam from ear to ear. Our eyes get wide and begin to dance. We stand a little taller. We feel even better about doing whatever it is we did. We feel appreciated and respected.

You know what happens then? We are more likely to do it again. So let’s burn up the computer and phone lines with simple words of thanks and praise. As we do, we’re putting a down payment on a future government that we ourselves deliberately create so that the former Army officers around us can begin again to have faith in our government. And the key phrase is “our government.”

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Ice stored in Memphis for hurricane Katrina victims is thrown away

Memphis, TN- The images are hard to forget. Thousands of people stranded in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Hot, hungry, thirsty and looking for a way out. But, there was help ready to go here in Memphis. Who can forget the hundreds of tractor trailers carrying supplies like water and ice sitting idle at the Defense Depot. That ice never made it where it was needed most.

* * *

After not being able to get answers from the company or FEMA, we called Congressman Steve Cohen who met us at the warehouse to see for himself. Cohe said "first impression it looks like a mistake and poor management by fema." The Congressman pulled out his blackberry cellphone and called the person in charge of governement relations for Americold, but their answers were pretty cold. He asked them, "this is government ice? It says FEMA National Finance Center. Who's telling you you can't comment. Miss. Matthews. Miss matthews can't comment." But this icy problem in Memphis could be heating up in the months ahead for FEMA, as congress puts the agency on the hot seat again during subcommittee meetings planned for August in New Orleans. Senartor Cohen said "we've been paying for storage paying for ice and we dump it. People in Memphis has needs, the Federal Government has need and this is irresponsible." Two years ago, some of this ice travelled through many states while FEMA tried to route it to New Orleans where it was needed. It ended up here in Memphis. the problem slowly melting away. [Emphasis added.]

Read the entire News Channel 3 story here.

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Cohen: FEMA wasted $70 million in ice

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - In his first Capitol press conference, Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen blasted the Federal Emergency Management Agency for wasting $70 million worth of ice.

Read the Memphis WMC-TV story . . .



Type the rest of the blog here.

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FEMA Knew Of Toxic Gas In Trailers

Hurricane Victims Reported Illnesses

Rows of trailers for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina line the Renaissance Village trailer park in Baker, La. Trailers like these have been found to contain high levels of formaldehyde. (By Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)
FEMA Suppressed Health Warnings
Agency may have rejected testing on hazardous formaldehyde levels in Katrina trailers. (Getty)
FEMA Administrator's Statement (PDF)
Congressional Memo (PDF)




Federal Emergency Management Agency since early 2006 has suppressed warnings from its own field workers about health problems experienced by hurricane victims living in government-provided trailers with levels of a toxic chemical 75 times the recommended maximum for U.S. workers, congressional lawmakers said yesterday.

A trail of e-mails obtained by investigators shows that the agency's lawyers rejected a proposal for systematic testing of the levels of potentially cancer-causing formaldehyde gas in the trailers, out of concern that the agency would be legally liable for any hazards or health problems. As many as 120,000 families displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita lived in the suspect trailers, and hundreds have complained of ill effects.

On June 16, 2006, three months after reports of the hazards surfaced and a month after a trailer resident sued the agency, a FEMA logistics expert wrote that the agency's Office of General Counsel "has advised that we do not do testing, which would imply FEMA's ownership of this issue." A FEMA lawyer, Patrick Preston, wrote on June 15: "Do not initiate any testing until we give the OK. . . . Once you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them."

FEMA tested no occupied trailers after March 2006, when it initially discovered formaldehyde levels at 75 times the U.S.-recommended workplace safety threshold and relocated a south Mississippi couple expecting their second child, the documents indicate. Formaldehyde, a common wood preservative used in construction materials such as particle board, can cause vision and respiratory problems; long-term exposure has been linked to cancer and higher rates of asthma, bronchitis and allergies in children.

Read the Washington Post story . . .


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Insurers Screw Consumers: Democratic Congress Fights to Protect Us

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., listens to opening remarks on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday during a hearing of the House Housing and Community Opportunity subcommittee, as they consider the Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2007. Sun Herald

by Ana Maria

"Greed is the main disconnect in this situation," said Taylor, D-Miss. "It's easy for them to walk around in their Gucci suits and defend their companies, but the reality is down there on the Gulf Coast, where all of the destroyed homes and property of my constituents are. Of course, these companies don't want to change the rules that are currently in their favor.

"People who played by the rules and expected insurance companies to play by the same rules got screwed," said Taylor, whose bill would create financially sound premium levels to make the NFIP self-supporting.

Taylor, insurers lock horns over bill
Sun Herald
July 18, 2007

Toward the end of the subcommittee hearing on the Multiple Peril Insurance Act that Congress held the other day, the chairwoman of the committee, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif, “chastised the insurance industry representatives for criticizing Taylor's plan without offering a solution to reform the NFIP to add wind damage protection.”

As mentioned in yesterday’s piece, Democrats Shame, Skewer Insurance Shills, the corporate shills all sang from the same song sheet. Their tune? “All we are saying, is keep things the same” with this thrown in for variety’s sake “All we are saying is keep our profits the same.”

One of those verses was “state sponsored mediation.” Of course, they would want that. They have all the marbles in their corner. The insurance company writes the policy. We have to have insurance for loans to build homes and businesses. Then, here in Mississippi, the insurance companies own the Insurance Commissioner George Dale who said Katrina “put an undue burden on the insurance companies.”

Fortunately, Dale is up to be booted out of office in the primary on August 7th. [Read about Gary Anderson, the real Democratic candidate for insurance commissioner.]

Think about it. What negotiating power do we have as consumers? We can go from one insurance company to another to price shop or look for various coverage options. However, we do not negotiate the coverage itself. It’s a take it or leave it proposition. We have no right or vehicle to negotiate terms or coverage. As a result, the entire insurance industry has us over a barrel. I believe the legal term for this is “inherent power”, and courts have ruled that it is illegal for them to act in bad faith because of it. Essentially, we are at the mercy of insurance companies.

In the recent racketeering lawsuit that the Scruggs Katrina Group filed against State Farm, Forensic Analysis & Engineering Corp., and E.A. Renfroe & Company, Inc., we learn that State Farm allegedly participated in “mock mediation” meetings where they rehearsed concealing the existence of the engineering reports that said wind damaged the policyholders homes. SKG alleges that State Farm attorneys provided the script for the mediation for which “the purpose and aim . . . was to demoralize policyholders and create the impression that no degree of forensic evidence would convince State Farm and/or Renfroe to pay the full value of their insured hurricane damages.” Yeah, that sure sounds quite neighborly to me. More like the neighbor from hell.

During the course of the negotiations that Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Dale pushed, State Farm and their partners “actively and fraudulently concealed information and prevented the plaintiffs [the consumers/policyholders] from obtaining information that could be used in their favor.”

With the deck stacked in the insurance companies’ favor and without any evidence of any kind of moral fiber in the being of the captains of or mouthpieces for this industry, of course, they would recommend that the state legally mandate mediation. You and I are standing before them naked as jay birds without any armor to protect our homes, families, businesses, employees or customers. They get their fat corporate bonuses and we get . . . what was that word that Congressman Gene Taylor used? Oh yeah, “screwed.”

Taylor had an additional few choice words for the six corporate shills who advocated maintaining the status quo.

“I want to tell each of you today to defend this [holding up a photo of a home that had $600,000 worth of insurance and got not one penny from their wind insurance policy], to defend those profits [$40 billion in 2005, the year of Katrina and over $60 billion in 2006] to defend the practice where they can call each other up and say “Let’s all raise our rates. You take this state. You take that one. Or even better, let’s all back out for a little while. And then we’ll come back in, and we’ll quadruple the rates and the people will be so desperate because they know hurricane season’s right around the corner, they’ll pay us anything.”

“To say that doesn’t need to change, to say that it’s ok, well, you gotta, you gotta live with yourself. And I’m sure, quite frankly, that your financial portfolio looks a whole lot better than these guys (as Taylor picks up one of the photos of a gorgeous home that had at least a half million dollars in insurance coverage but received not one penny), but the bottom line is that it does have to change. It is not a ‘what if’. It has already happened.

“So the question is when does it happen to North Carolina? When does it happen in New York? When does it happen in New Jersey? When does it happen in Connecticut? When does it happen to Georgia? When does it happen to South Carolina? Because it’s gonna happen.. . .”

Click Here To View Archived Webcast
start at 2:36 to watch all of
Congressman Taylor’s riveting final remarks

Taylor thanked the Democratic leadership for holding five hearings on the matter since taking over in January. He said “in the 15 months after the storm, the guys that used to run this committee didn’t see fit to have one hearing on the kind of abuses that took place by the thousands in Mississippi. In the months since the Democrats have taken over, they have had five. We’ve had a promise of a vote.”

Great! Thank GAWD for Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) and Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA). Pelosi lead a 20+ Democratic Congressional delegation here to review the Katrina-ravaged areas of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. These Democratic congressional representatives attended a town meeting in my hometown of Bay St. Louis, Miss., and listened intently to a cross section of people tell their nightmare stories: Republican and Democrat, wealthy and far less than wealthy. By way of contrast, their colleagues on the other side of the aisle have not done the same.

The Sun Herald reported that Taylor “hopes to see the bill approved by the House committee and sent to the full House for a vote before the August recess.” In his final comment at the hearing, Congressman Taylor said “To sit back and to do nothing would be the greatest wrong of all.”

Taylor’s final comment is a great segue to today’s Political Hell Raising Activities. Go here to contact by email and phone the members of this subcommittee. The point of this is to ask them to vote in favor of H.R. 920, the Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2007. This is the way to move through the legislative process as active, thoughtful, and effective participants in our American democratic system. Think of it as an easy way to help us screw over an industry that has long abandoned and betrayed us.

Additional resources
H.R. 920
FAQ regarding the Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2007
Rep. Gene Taylor Asks AIA to Retract Report
Trent Lott's letter of support
The Official Hearing Website

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Saints Fans March All Over Insurance Companies

by Ana Maria

Having grown up in Saints country, I'm typical of the people in the greater New Orleans area. I love the Saints. I was never so proud as I was the day we all got to take the virtual paper bags off of our heads years back. Then, last year the Saints did the area proud by going all the way to the semi finals of the Super Bowl.

In an area completely abandoned* and left to drown in water that by midnight the day before the levees flooded the great city of New Orleans, I am ever so much more proud because on the Saints' Report akking an Forum, fellow fans are yakking and yakking about the Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2007 that Congressman Taylor (D-MS) has proposed. ("Yakking" is local speak for talking, chatting.) The thread is titled Congress battling with insurance industry over wind insurance policy reform. Click the link and read the thread.

We are known for our fierce loyalty to our local football team come hell or high water. This thread shows our fierce loyalty to the New Orleans--Gulf Coast region and to our country. . . and our street smarts about politics.

* The New York Times article titled White House Knew of Levee's Failure on Night of Storm published February 10, 2006. Greg Palast's Big Easy to Big Empty is the Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans including the fact that Bush's White House knew that the levees were breaking and about to drown the city . . . and did not tell officials with the state of Louisiana or the city of New Orleans. To buy a copy, click on the icon on the right side of the A.M. in the Morning's home page.


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RAND Report on Post Katrina Commercial Wind Insurance Developments

RAND REPORT: Commercial Wind Insurance in the Gulf States:
Developments Since Hurricane Katrina and Challenges Moving Forward

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, Congress has been considering whether and how to encourage the purchase of wind insurance. Today, RAND issued a new report looking at the availability and cost of commercial wind insurance following the 2005 hurricanes.

The new report, Commercial Wind Insurance in the Gulf States: Developments Since Hurricane Katrina and Challenges Moving Forward, finds that many businesses along the Gulf of Mexico coast have had a difficult time obtaining wind insurance and have ended up paying more than twice as much for the insurance as they did previously. Other findings include:
Gulf Coast businesses are paying higher deductibles while getting lower limits on policy coverage;

1. The use of state-run residual insurance markets has risen;
2. The potential for financial losses resulting from damage to property due to high winds has shifted in part from insurers to policyholders and taxpayers - including those not living in high-risk areas; and
3. The scarcity and high cost of wind insurance has delayed some business investments in the Gulf States region, although the economic impact on the overall region is hard to assess. Higher insurance premiums may have in part redirected economic activity to lower risk areas in the region.

The study also proposes three basic goals for a wind risk insurance system and examines some of the challenges faced by the private market and government programs in achieving these goals.

The study can be found at http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP190/.


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Scruggs' Statement Responding to State Farm’s Latest Salvo

From the Scruggs Katrina Group's website.

State Farm, desperate to shake the dark cloud permanently affixed to their reputation has taken another pass at us. This time they’ve re-released a two-week-old statement penned by the Washington Legal Fund, in an attempt to undermine our efforts on behalf of the families of Mississippi.

While it is tempting to re-release our two-week-old announcement that we filed over 20 counts of RICO charges against State Farm and over 200 additional lawsuits against them on behalf of Mississippi families, brimming with evidence of how “the good neighbor” has systematically defrauded policy holders, we won’t.

Instead we will simply say, we welcome any investigation into the matter of Katrina-related insurance litigation. Bring it on. We know who is hiding the truth. We know who hopes to bury that truth in litigation. Every member of the Scruggs Katrina Group and our clients call on the courts and the US Department of Justice to fully investigate all charges related to insurance industry corruption post Katrina. Unlike State Farm we won’t be taking the Fifth.

###

For more information on the Scruggs Katrina Group's RICO lawsuit, see State Farm, Partners, and RICO: What a Racket! Former Mississippi Attorney General explains well the RICO lawsuit that the Scruggs Katrina Group has filed against State Farm.

Watch the video: Hi-Res Lo-Res
Former Attorney General Mike Moore Explains the RICO Case on WLOX's This Week.

Court Documents: Shows vs. State Farm
Original Complaint (PDF) Exhibits (PDF)
Note: These are large files and may take over a minute to load.

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