Gov. Andrew Cuomo has met with the state’s leading insurers to make important changes.
As New York continues to battle with the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, the state is making insurance news by hacking its way through bureaucratic red tape in order to help the 360,000 victims of the storm to receive faster payments.
A new online system is also being created in order to help gauge the performance of insurers.
This insurance news is notable because the online system will allow insurers to be graded based on their response to the needs of New Yorkers following the storm. For those companies that already have state licenses at risk, their responses to assisting the victims of Sandy can be highly defining.
The governor made insurance news by meeting with the insurers regarding the changes.
He met up with the biggest insurers in the state in order to discuss a number of different changes that are designed to help New Yorkers to receive their assistance from adjusters in half the time that was previously possible. Though the deadline had previously been 15 days, the new one would be only 6 days.
Adjusters are responsible for performing inspections on homes and businesses before policyholders are able to receive a payment for the claims that they have made, unless a health or safety issue is present. The victims of Sandy are permitted to make repairs to problems that present health and safety risks by using documentation such as receipts as evidence.
Cuomo held an insurance news conference in Manhattan and explained that “We’re getting many, many complaints”. He went on to explain that “I understand their point of view and I understand the volume. I also understand the point of consumers and citizens who paid for coverage … and now expect the insurance companies to do their job.”
The governor is currently making insurance news by permitting some out of state adjusters to come into New York and be issued temporary state licenses in order to allow them to join in the effort to more rapidly assist in the growing number of claims. The governor has also given his approval for allowing “public adjusters” to provide their help to customers throughout the claims process.
