Insurance Claims Paid in Mississippi Now Over $10 Billion

As of June 6 insurance companies have paid out more than $10 billion in hurricane-related claims for hurricanes Rita and Katrina in Mississippi, according to Commissioner of Insurance George Dale. The National Flood Insurance Program has now paid over $2.4 billion in claims. The approximate total for claims paid now stands at $10,408,399,649.

In the six coastal counties, over 250,000 claims have been filed; with over $7 billion paid in claims in those counties alone, the approximate total for claims paid in the six coastal counties is $7,487,852,932. In Jackson County there have been over 62,000 claims filed and over $820 million in claims paid. In Hancock County there have been over 30,000 claims filed and over $750 million in claims paid. In Harrison County there have been over 99,000 claims filed and over $2.5 billion in claims paid. (Individual county figure breakdowns Do Not include flood or wind pool claims.)

“More and more claims are being paid daily. We’re hearing from people everyday who have settled claims due to their insurance companies going back a second and third time to look at claims at the request of the Insurance Department, “Dale said.

Dale also congratulated the continued success of the Mississippi Insurance Department Hurricane Katrina Mediation program. The program now reports an 85 percent success rate. There have been nearly 2,500 requests for mediation filed through the program. Of those mediation conferences that have been scheduled there have been 390 mediations settled at conference, 461 settled prior to conference and there have been 156 impasses.

“We are extremely pleased with the success of this program. The number of people it helps rises daily,” Dale said.

Source: Mississippi Department of Insurance