re: NPR Podcast about Flood Insurance shorting homeowners following Hurricane Sandy

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The adjuster has no way of knowing if an engineer report is falsified... all that is done is reviewed and a repair estimate/ denial is made based on that report...

Also the insured can always do a supplement/ appeal for a year... Changes can be done immediately if something in the scope was missed or just incorrect. If it is an issue with price than the supplement can be made when repairs are completed; if the short fall is 10k and the insured has the paid invoices/ proof of payment then that short fall can be considered.

Pricing may have some inconsistencies but it goes both ways meaning you were likely paid more for cabinets but could have been paid less for insulation. In the end it balances out and more times than not in favor of the insured...

Now, there are crappy adjusters out there but any of that can be rectified with a supplement.

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Jeff Coolidge reviewed adjusters' files for multiple insurance companies after Superstorm Sandy. He says he quit his job in part because he was so bothered by what he was doing. The insurance firms he worked for used phrases like "pre-existing," "earth movement" or "ground settlement" to reject homeowners' claims of flood damage. "They use 'settlement' a lot. 'Sorry your house looks like it shifted to the left a little bit, but I think it was like that when you bought it,' " Coolidge said.

They told him to pay homeowners less than what they asked to be paid to rebuild, he said. He says that put pressure on him to get the independent adjusters in the field in line to back up these conclusions, or else their flat fee was at stake.

"I've told an adjuster that based on our guidelines that I need you to remove these items," he says. "I send it back for revision. He doesn't agree with that. He'll resubmit it. I'll reject it back."

If the adjuster wanted to pay the homeowner more, Coolidge would reject the adjuster's assessment until he got the answer his employer wanted, and in some cases he switched adjusters or threatened to do so. "'I'm going to take half your pay and give it to him," he recalls telling several adjusters.

Looking back, Coolidge says he regrets that behavior but at the time, he didn't feel he had a choice. "I feel bad every day for participating in that. It is what it is. [The insurance companies] had the upper hand. You either do it or they'll remove you."

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