Ana Maria Rosato Fights Corruption: Big Insurance, FEMA, & the Bush White House
Ana Maria’s Katrina Blog
When Ana Maria returned home 18 months after Hurricane Katrina, she became furious with the Republican White House and politicians who abandoned her hometown region.
The media had obviously chosen to ignore the plight of those living in the Katrina-ravaged region.
Channeling her fury, Ana Maria created A.M. in the Morning!, her blog to pull the media’s coat, even embarrass them if she could.
Ana Maria wrote first-hand accounts in her signature scathing style redolent of the region’s famous cuisine — hot, strong, and spicy. Nobody escaped Ana Maria’s wrath whether the individuals were the callous insurance industry giants, FEMA’s bumbling leadership and other do-nothing politicians in the Republican administration, or incompetent government contractors. By shining a spotlight on the ongoing plight of the Katrina-ravaged Mississippi Gulf Coast, this native daughter hoped to be a cog in the wheel that spurs action.
Ana Maria often provided pragmatic, easy, effective, and targeted political action readers and listeners could take to bring political pressure to bear so that her beloved hometown region can once again thrive.
Before she knew it, her blog and podcast caught the eye of Congressman Gene Taylor, a tremendous champion for righting the wrongs that the insurance giants had unleashed throughout the Katrina-ravaged region. She joined his re-election campaign as communications director and then moved into his district office to help promote his federal hurricane legislation that would cover both wind and water.
Private homeowner insurance covers wind damage and fails to cover flooding – even when it is wind-driven water which is what happens in a hurricane. more on that below. In the 1960’s, insurance companies got out the the flood insurance business because floods were unpredictable. That birthed the National Flood Insurance Program, backed by U.S. taxpayers. Taylor’s hurricane insurance bill would expand it to cover wind as well since it’s patently obvious at this point that BIG INSURANCE refuses to pay out for hurricane wind damage.
Democratic Congressional Delegation Showed Up
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a Democratic Congressional delegation to Ana Maria’s hometown of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to attend a major town hall meeting on this very subject.
Republicans choose to snub Mississippi Gulf Coast citizens and failed to attend.
They listened to the many harrowing stories from families throughout the Mississippi Gulf Coast who did everything they were supposed to do — paid their insurance premiums on time,
boarded up their homes, and left when Hurricane Katrina headed their way.
At the town hall, Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) explained the controversial “concurrent causation” clause that is buried in homeowner insurance contract, the clause that insurance companies used to deny homeowners’ claims for wind-related damages to their properties that Hurricane Katrina caused. This applies to State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, and USAA as well as other insurance companies.
They returned home to rebuild, submitted their insurance claims, and their insurance carriers denied their hurricane wind damage claims.
On July 29, 2009, Congressman Taylor had a 3-minute exchange with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank on the U.S. House of Representatives floor about the committee’s plans for flood insurance reform.
Insurance Coverage Gone With the Wind
“Apparently, the insurance industry no longer wants to cover people for wind damage in coastal America or will not provide that coverage at a cost that is reasonable,” Rep. Taylor (D-MS) stated.
“Throughout coastal America, property insurance companies have dramatically increased premiums on existing policies, canceled existing policies, or have stopped writing new policies altogether for our nation’s home and business owners. The Multiple Peril Insurance Act will solve this problem. It will also stimulate the economy throughout coastal America, particularly here in the Katrina area of the nation,” Taylor continued.
Insurance Companies Confess in Court:
“We Wouldn’t Pay a Dime” . . . unless sued!
Nationwide Won’t Pay a Dime if Wind Destroys 95% of a Home
As Congressman Taylor’s communications director, Ana Maria Rosato created the videos above to explain how in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, insurance industry giants picked the pockets of their customers and U.S. taxpayers.
Rep. Taylor Proposed Hurricane Insurance Coverage
On Thursday, July 15, 2020, Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) offered an amendment to the National Flood Insurance Program reauthorization bill to require private insurance companies to make fair adjustments when adjusting wind damage claims that private insurance companies pay for and flood damage claims that U.S. taxpayers subsidize.
In his closing remarks offering this amendment, Taylor addressed his fellow congressional representatives with a pointed challenge. “Quite honestly, I would like to see which shill for the insurance companies wants to defend what they did to individuals in the Gulf Coast and what they have done to the taxpayers as a whole.”
