[LINK] Townhall meetings... (Insurance Rant -Qld Floods)

Tom Koltai tomk at unwired.com.au
Wed Apr 6 16:37:23 AEST 2011


Some weeks ago we discussed the US Governments penchant for holding town
hall meetings as a way of connecting politicians with the people.

Town hall meetings are useful for other community events as well, for
example:

Ipswich flood victims lash out at insurers
It would appear the insurance companies are managing to avoid having to
pay out to flood victims in the Gatton Ipswich area.
The representative of the Australian insurance council, Rob Whelan
stated that 85% of all claims had been paid out.
When his statistics were challenged, he responded that the people at the
meeting may not have had the right policies or been with the companies
that cover it.

Does that mean that some companies sell Flood insurance that isn't
actually flood insurance ?
So if people live in an area that is prone to floods, were they told
that before they bought the land forty years ago ?
When they bought their land were they told that the Government was going
to build a big water reservoir that might then cause a deluge that would
result in their insurance being void.
If not, who is to blame ? The builders of the Ivanhoe Dam ? The Real
Estate Developer ? The Government ?
Insurance would appear to be the logical bunny holding the carrot.
They took the money for years and years years and when the claims
arrive, hire experts [to undertake a hydrology report] to determine
whether or not a flood (19 inches of water in 24 hours) is an act of God
or not.
Sometimes Public relations requires one to bite the bullet and pay out
the policy. 

Failure to do so might result in a shakeout in the Australian Insurance
industry at the very least or some peeking and poking by APRA.
Just imagine what we could do with a thumbs down "dislike" button...

Source:	ABC News
Published:	Wednesday, April 6, 2011 12:54 AEST
Expires:	Tuesday, July 5, 2011 12:54 AEST
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2011/04/06/3183284.htm

Postscript: Koltai Mirth.
What made me laugh and the entire news item memorable in my mind was Mr.
Whelan's defence about the credibility of the companies carrying out the
Hydrology studies being based on the fact that "some of them were even
listed on the ASX".
This might come as a news to the Australian Insurance Council, but a
listing on the Australian Stock Exchange is not really an indication of
a companies credibility, ethical business practices or community social
capital.
In fact, I would say that shareholders are the reason why most publicly
listed companies have very short visions and are corrupting our economy.
I would find any report from any public company that depended on it's
shareholders to set the CEO's salary cap as being extremely suspicious,
especially if that company depended on the insurance industry for
further consulting/analyst reports.

/body







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