Insurance

The Consumer Federation of America says yes. The nonprofit estimates Sandy will lead to 200,000 flood insurance claims, exhausting the National Flood Insurance Program. The CFA says Congress will have to swiftly authorize additional money to meet those claims. Makes you wonder if a polarized Congress will be able to pass such an authorization, or whether stalling will occur by politicians seeking to score some points.  But I digress.  Anyway, the CFA offers tips on how to get a fair claim payment on homeowner's insurance:  -     Report the claim as quickly as possible, because with insurance companies, it's first come, first served.

Therese M. Goldsmith spent most of last week preparing to deal with Cyclone Sandy's second wave: Thousands of Maryland residents who filed insurance claims and began working with contractors and mechanics to repair damage to their homes and cars. As the commissioner of the Maryland Insurance Administration, she's charged with regulating Maryland's insurance industry and making certain that insurance companies comply with Maryland insurance law. The MIA also handles complaints from consumers and helps them work through problems with their providers.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America released information on what consumers need to know about flood insurance: Regular homeowner's insurance covers damage from a storm, but not  from flooding. You need to buy a policy from the National Flood Insurance Program to protect your house and property. (You can buy it through an insurance agent.) Flood insurance covers physical losses from flood or flood-related erosion caused by waves or currents. The typical policy covers structural damage and damage to to air conditioners, furnaces, water heaters and any clean-up required.

Sandy is only just getting started. But it's still worth a reminder of what you should do if your car or home is damaged in the next couple of days. Here are tips from the Maryland Insurance Administration and insurance companies: -     Once the danger is over, contact your insurance company to report the damage. Keep a detailed inventory of the damage, including photos and video. -     Make temporary repairs so the damage doesn't get worse. That includes boarding up windows or holes in the roof.

We're closing in on Election Day, but the questions about what Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would do if elected are only growing larger. Rarely before in American history has a presidential ticket campaigned on such a blank slate. Yet, paradoxically, not a day goes by that we don't hear Mr. Romney, Mr. Ryan or some other exponent of the GOP claim that businesses aren't creating more jobs because they're uncertain about the future. And the source of that uncertainty, they say, is President Barack Obama -- especially his Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)

I heard on the radio this week about the surgery schedules for the Ravens' Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb, who were both injured this past weekend ("Lewis on IR; return a hope," Oct. 18). I understand that pro athletes deserve good health care, but how about our kids? My daughter tore her ACL last spring while playing soccer. I followed our health insurance guidelines and took her to be x-rayed at a local Patient First. After being x-rayed, I had to take her to her pediatrician to get a referral to see an orthopedic surgeon.

Baltimore County auto insurance salesman Hal Katz is known for his offbeat television commercials, such as the one with the rapper singing, "Hey, Hal, you're the best!" Maryland insurance regulators likely would disagree. The Maryland Insurance Administration has been investigating Katz and his companies in the past several months over the alleged mishandling of premiums and use of unlicensed agents. Last week, Baltimore City Circuit Court placed two of his companies — Interstate Auto Insurance Co. and Katz's Insurance Agency — into receivership.

Many Maryland employers will see the tax they pay for unemployment insurance drop by more than half next year. The tax cut, which will be announced Monday by the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, reflects the improving employment situation in the state and should give businesses a boost as they use that money for other purposes. The unemployment insurance tax soared several years ago as the ranks of the unemployed spiked during the recession, which in turn depleted the state's trust fund for jobless benefits.

The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was intended to extend health insurance coverage to 32 million of the roughly 50 million Americans who currently lack it. Yet even after the law fully goes into effect in 2014, millions of Americans will still be hard-pressed to pay the premiums charged by traditional for-profit health insurance companies. If they are to benefit from the law, many of them will have to seek lower-cost alternatives to the for-profit insurers. Plans for new kinds of nonprofit health cooperatives, which provide members equivalent care at lower cost, are already on the drawing boards in about two dozen states, including Maryland, which recently received a $65 million federal loan to fund the establishment of the state's first non-profit health cooperative.