Texas Windstorm Insurance Association and Federal Emergency Management Administration ,FEMA paying out on fraudulent claims, FEMA requesting unnecessary info, turning away legitimate claims, referring all damage claims to TWIA Austin, Hyattsville Texas,Maryland

Just read that TWIA will hit major losses for Hurricane Ike. At this point I am really not sure to whom they are paying out for those kind of losses but know that most people I have talked with have such high deductibles on their windstorn and hail damage policies they have lost money on this storm and cannot recover their losses. None of us here on the gulf coast asked for Texas Windstorm Insurance Association to be formed and put into a separate policy in the first place and most of all us are forced to carry it because we have a mortgage, however, when we are forced to carry a policy that will cover nothing then what good is it?

This means that for a lot of people things will not get fixed, or replaced or repaired for some time yet because none of us have the monies to cover a $3,000-$7,000 deductible. If Texas Windstorm is losing money it is most likely because they are writing bogus checks to people covering them for a $100.00 a day miscellaneous paying these monies to people who STAYED during the entire hurricane by just showing their TWIA claim policy number.

That entire giveaway took about 15 minutes and you walked away with a big check. Wonder how much money TWIA wrote out in checks? Or maybe it is because TWIA looked at a roof and wrote out a check for $8,000 when about 20 shingles blew off as I happen to know happened with many people. Then maybe it is because TWIA is completely redoing the house up the street that was falling in before the storm because the owner never fixed it and now is getting almost his entire home rebuilt. Then look at all the rotten fences that already needed replaced long ago and this seems a good opportunity for these people to collect on a new fence and not pay out of their pocket.

Actually I am not sure what TWIA is doing or why we have them except for the fact that this takes the monkey off the back of FEMA who can now concentrate on informing all of us "No" on the other issues. Things that are completely ridiculous!! Such as FEMA will cover a generator of up to $800.00 if we bring in a doctor's statement saying we needed the generator for medical reasons. Maybe FEMA knows different doctors than I do but I know of no doctor who will bother to take the time to write an excuse paper for us to take to FEMA explaining the reason we needed that generator. That is stupid!!

This seems to me to be a no brainer!! How about it was hot and we were getting sick due to the heat and could not sleep outdoors due to the mosquitos. How about we had no power for well over a week!! How about the reason being that there was no food or supplies down here for 4 days (promised by FEMA) and we needed something hot to eat. How about all of us sweating all day working doing clean up who needed to take a hot shower? How about all of us who had small children and elderly parents with us who were getting sick due to the heat? FEMA Do You Copy? -- Do you need more reasons? I have many!!

This seems to me to be a "No-Brainer" issue for FEMA. Since they are so good at saying "No" on everything else I am honestly not sure why they are down here right now. All they do is tell us to go to TWIA and our insurance company and OH Right - I Forgot - Our Doctor!!! We need that generator excuse paper.

It all boils down to this: FEMA cannot help everyone. Us Texans understand that. At some point in time FEMA will have to back away and let each state take over and I think that is what they are trying to transition into. However, if TWIA is any indication of who will take over the realm we are in for some real problems because they have not dealt with this hurricane with fairness all around.

With the way this is being done at the present time all it will do for you and me in the long run is create higher insurance rates for all. It seems as though at the present time, at least fo this hurricane, anyone who had no insurance fared better than those of us who did. Right now we have regular homeowner insurance, windstorm and hail damage , and flood. We certainly do not need another.

FEMA and TWIA Wake Up: Get some kind of fairness for everyone. 1. Make the insurance companies come up with one standardized deductible. Right now I see it anywhere from $1,000-$10,000.
2. Stop paying for something that was already needing replaced (like fences that were falling down).

3. Why not let people put a permanent generator in as an add-on to their home and receive a tax deduction for it? That would take care of the generator issues hereinafter. We now have this generator that needs to stay here so when we sell our home the generator will stay with the home. Give a break to people here in Texas who sell a generator with the home be it temporary or permanent, whichever way they do it.

4. Organize some kind of correlation between FEMA, TWIA, and the regular insurance carriers. At the present time it all falls on us the homeowner to sort everything out.

5. Help get a 1,2,3 step plan going. Right now all we are doing is spending needed time running around not knowing which or where to go next. If we had a 1,2,3 step plan that would relieve a lot of the difficulties the homeowner is now having. Post it in the newspaper. Send flyers. Mail it out. Just do it!!
Give us more than one number to call that we can get through on and stop telling us to keep dialing. A number where we do not have the spend weeks and months trying to get through on.

TWIA: Since you are so free with monies and giving checks to anyone who entereth then let all the rest of the state know where to entereth too and not just give money to the few who hear about it by word of mouth because it certainly was not publicized that free money was being given away.

All this could be so simple and it is all so screwed up. All us who stayed went through hell. It was not our choice to stay but circumstances made it be. Now we are still going through hell 3 months later. We do not want anything given to us. We are not asking or expecting anything to be given to us. If we can possibly fix something ourselves we will but when FEMA demands a denial letter from the insurance company and a denial letter from TWIA all this mess turns into a gigantic federal beaucracy. The wheels spin and nothing gets done. People here in Texas who got hit have been through a lot and are disgusted, frustrated and broke.

FEMA is covering nothing, TWIA is covering nothing except their select few. It is such a shame!!! Us Texans are strong and will recover and help one another. We always have! We are survivors! However, I believe the best thing here would be to just give TWIA, FEMA and the private insurance companies the Texas boot!!

Important numbers: FEMA (fax #) 1-800-827-8112, (e-mail) FEMA-Correspondence-Unit@dhs.gov
TWIA (fax #) 1-512-899-4950

One last thing - PLEASE- LOCAL HOUSTON CHANNELS PLEASE STOP broadcasting during a hurricane to log onto www. Duh - We had/have no electricity!!!

SJ
Angleton, Texas
U.S.A.