14,000 To Lose Wind Coverage

Diane Jordan shows off her Alfa bill. She says it’s a heftier total than last year.

“I was not very happy about it because it was increased from last year,” says Jordan. She's one of 14,000 customers in Mobile and Baldwin counties who may lose wind damage coverage.

“What sense does it make to have insurance and not, what else do they offer besides wind coverage, that's what a hurricane's all about,” says Jordan. Allstate plans on not renewing about 9,000 policies and Alfa 5,000. This means many will have to seek coverage in the state wind pool. State Senator Ben Brooks that will hurt the whole state.

“And if a major catastrophe hit that wind pool would look to policy holders all across the state to be reimbursed,” says Brooks. Right now we don't who will be affected but it will be several people and Brooks says, in some cases it could affect a family's ability to afford a home.

“People were already having a tough time locating insurance and once they locate it being able to afford it,” says Brooks. He says there's no "silver bullet" legislative solution, but he'd like to start by examining insurance company data.

“See some independent experts in the field of statistics and analysis take a look at that and tell us, is this in fact valid, what's going on does it does it pass muster,” says Brooks. An Alfa representative says they're trying to mitigate long term risks and maintain financial strength by not renewing some policies. Here is Allstate’s full statement:

Allstate’s removing wind coverage comes as a direct result of our being denied the ability to recover any reasonable amount of our reinsurance cost for Alabama – reinsurance we purchased in order to meet our obligations to Alabama customers after a catastrophe. While we certainly respect the Insurance Department’s decision to totally reject our request on this matter, the fact remains that we have lost over $100 million over the last three years, and we can not sustain that position any longer.