Florida Notices Serve As Model For Katrina Declarations

Top regulators from the states hit by Hurricane Katrina are asking insurers to show compassion for the survivors.[@@]

Officials at an emergency insurance summit in Atlanta drafted emergency consumer protection declarations that would ask insurers to suspend the usual cancellation rules temporarily.

The declarations also would order health care insurers to honor in-network plan provisions for out-of-network care and even for out-of-state care. Relaxation of the usual reimbursement rules for out-of-network care are important because many hospitals affected by the storm are not operating, according to Louisiana Insurance Commissioner J. Robert Wooley.

“We have to give our citizens a way to access normal health care without added cost,” Wooley says.

Wooley participated in the insurance summit with Alabama Insurance Commissioner Walter Bell and John Wells, director of the rating division at Mississippi’s insurance department.

Other officials in attendance included: Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, and Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Diane Koken, who is president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo.

The summit also attracted 480 representatives from the insurance industry.

Wooley says the declarations the regulators have drafted are similar to the notices Florida issued last year in response to the wave of hurricanes it faced.

In addition to cancellations, non-renewals and health plan rules, matters addressed in the declarations include premium increases and claims adjusting.