Im wondering what your views are on Insurance reform. I'm looking at some often ignored issues, that affect people everyday in this country that go ignored by most politicans. And I'm looking for other peoples input.
I live in South Western Pennsylvania. Our area was hit by recent flash floods from Hurricane Ivan. Many friends and neighbors were denied Flood insurance in our area over the last few years, and told they did not "need" it because they were not on flood plains. The recent flooding has caused some of those same people to lose their homes, businesses, and automobiles, and they have been unable to recover anything from their insurance companies because they were denied this coverage.
I have had personal experience with what I call Inverse Insurance fraud. My Automobile, an 1984 Mazda RX7 was totaled by a 59 year old drunk driver at 9AM while he was on his way to work! I paid an insurance premium of $175 a month for three years on the car. The model was sort of a collectors item, had 70,000 miles on it, and is known for it's reliablity and low maintenance and sells for about $2500, yet the insurance company paid me $210 for the totaled car, and would not budge on the figure. Taking them to court would have cost more than that, so I was forced to settle for that amount. I hadn't had an accident, or ticket in over 15 years. By my calculations I had paid almost $3600 to them over the 3 years I had that car. Even at $2500 they would have made a nice profit and kept a customer.
The insurance companies, seem to have carte blanc in this country and are one of the highest profit segments of the economy. Have Insurance companies gone unchecked too long? Does anyone else see this as a viable issue in future elections?