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Newsday: Editorial: Bravo, Dinallo
August 20, 2007
As far as the state Insurance Department is concerned, you're not in good hands with Allstate. The same for Liberty Mutual, the second insurer accused of breaking a law aimed at protecting consumers from coercive sales tactics. As State Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo demanded, the firms must stop exploiting fears over losing homeowner coverage to sell auto insurance policies.
Dinallo deserves kudos for responding quickly to complaints from consumers after Newsday revealed Allstate and Liberty Mutual's decisions to cut their numbers of homeowner insurance policies. The firms, in an industry still reeling from losses due to Katrina, Andrew and other
hurricanes, fear that Long Island, New York City and Westchester are well overdue for a catastrophic storm.
This page has defended the insurers' right to reduce their exposure - as long as they follow laws that bar forcing consumers to buy one policy if they want another and that limit the number of homeowners whose coverage can be dropped in any given year. The state, as it should, has found evidence of the former and remains vigilant on the latter.
As a result of the state's diligence, Liberty Mutual has reinstated 380 homeowner policies and is reviewing others that were canceled. Overall, more than 15,500 policyholders have found themselves scrambling over the past year, after receiving nonrenewal notices from several insurers. That's scary, considering that Long Island has hundreds of miles of coastline, and a home is usually a family's most valuable
asset.
Now, regulators must do their best to assure that homeowners have other sources of coverage, and at reasonable rates. Families can't be left high and dry the next time they are down and damaged if - or, as forecasters say, when - the next Big One hits.
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