Area insurance agents voice hurricane recovery frustrations

Feb. 16--PANAMA CITY -- Area insurance agents want their carriers to communicate better to ease clients' angst and expedite payouts for Hurricane Michael damage, a panel of state lawmakers and officials heard on Friday.

Slow or absent communication from insurance carriers was the top complaint some local agents made to the panel in Bay County, followed by concerns that an insurance practice known as "assignment of benefits" was being abused by several contractors to raise costs. The panel was organized following a host of consumer complaints made to state officials that insurers were slowing the recovery process, more than four months after the hurricane hit.

"Much of what we heard today is there's a lack of clarity from insurers," said David Altmaier, state insurance commissioner, who sat on the panel. "I think what we're going to continue to articulate to the insurance industry is that they need to stay in communication with their clients."

More than 30 people, mainly area insurance agents, attended the town hall meeting, hosted by a panel consisting of Altmaier, state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Sen. Doug Broxson, Sen. George Gainer and Rep. Jay Trumbull. The panel organized the meeting to get a status on the hurricane recovery from agents on the ground and to address any challenges consumers still faced, particularly not getting insurance money in a timely fashion to rebuild their homes and businesses.

"This was a unique storm because we lost not only a lot of timber but a lot of businesses ... there's a lot of people moving out because they have no place to work and there's no infrastructure," Broxson said. "To keep people here, one of the components of that is money."

The general consensus from agents at the meeting was that insurance carriers were acting in good faith for the most part, but that insufficient communication from them had kept the recovery process slow.

"This is the first time our area was so severely impacted like this and it's been a real learning curve, but what's most disturbing to me is how agents are kept out of the loop from insurance companies," said Denise Butler, owner of the Butler Agency in Franklin County. "I think by and large, I think companies are doing what they're supposed to in fulfilling their policies, just not in keeping us informed."

Butler said the process would improve if agents had better ways to contact insurers to find out how far along claims were in the process.

"From an internal perspective in the industry, I don't know of any problems that couldn't be solved by better communication," said Trey Hutt, owner of Hutt Insurance Agency in Panama City.

Hutt said one subject poorly communicated to clients has been the concept of initial insurance claim payments.

"People should think of that as a downpayment from their policy," Hutt said. "They're supposed to go out and find a contractor, then find out what the insurer should really pay ... I think the carriers did a terrible job of explaining that."

Hutt and other agents also maligned the practice of assignment of benefits and its apparent abuse. Through the practice, homeowners can sign over their insurance benefits to contractors, who then can obtain money directly from insurers. The practice has been controversial for years in Florida, with insurers arguing some contractors abuse the process to raise costs for work. Supporters of the practice have said it helps keep insurers from low-balling clients.

"I have customers calling me because contractors are putting liens on their homes based on inflated invoices and the owners have no control over what happens because of assignment of benefits," said Karen Kirkland, a local insurance agent. "It needs to be harder for AOB's to stick."

Patronis said his office advises homeowners to think carefully before signing away benefits.

"If it sounds too good to be true, don't do it," Patronis said.

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