Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - Insurance Dept. did its job well

Insurance Dept. did its job well

Sep 02, 2008 - 04:07:06 CDT

By ADAM HAMM
Bismarck

When a tornado ripped through Northwood last year, people from all across the state sprang into action. Recovering from a disaster takes the cooperation of many people and organizations, and the North Dakota Insurance Department is proud to have been part of the community's recovery.

When the Insurance Department heard of the ferocity of this tornado, we immediately went into action, calling on a disaster recovery team which was on the ground the following day. By the end of the first week, we had met with school and city officials. Insurance Department staff also found experts to do specific testing on buildings and computers and ultimately found free storage for the school's undamaged library books.

By the end of the second week, Insurance Department staff set up shop in Northwood to help people with their personal and commercial business insurance questions. This continued into week three to attempt to make sure everyone was served. In total, the Insurance Department has handled more than 70 inquiries and 10 formal complaints, resulting in more than $250,000 in additional money paid to consumers.

Additionally, the Insurance Department appraised several buildings in Northwood, including school property, that were insured by the State Fire and Tornado Fund. The State Fire and Tornado Fund provides structure and contents insurance coverage to state entities and political subdivisions of the state (e.g. schools and city/county buildings). The fund functions much like an insurance company: its reserves are fed by policyholders' premiums and claims are paid after determining property damage and the property's level of coverage.

While some may claim for their own political purposes that the resolution of the insurance claims involving the school took too long, the reality is that the Insurance Department and school officials worked very hard to come to a positive agreement. The main sticking point was a $2 million difference between the opinions of the expert retained by the school and the expert retained by the Insurance Department. If both sides hadn't worked diligently to get through those complicated issues, the claims could have easily ended up in lengthy and expensive legal action. Instead, both sides came together and reached a positive resolution. This resulted in a total payment of approximately $8 million, and allowed Northwood to start building a brand new school for its students and community.

Looking back over the last year, the employees of the North Dakota Insurance Department have a strong sense of pride and accomplishment at the role we played in helping to get Northwood back on its feet.

(Adam Hamm is the North Dakota Insurance Commissioner.)

News > Opinion

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Comments

Rudy wrote on Sep 2, 2008 8:08 PM:

" Jasper knows that the only chance he has to win is to attack, attack, attack. But that's the Democrate way isn't it, scare tactics and attacks. "

Law wrote on Sep 2, 2008 12:46 PM:

" Mr. Hamm is defending his office and his people from an unwarranted attack from Mr. Schneider. Well within his scope of service. If I worked for the insurance commissioner I would be worried Jasper would win after calling me out for not doing my job. "

dave wrote on Sep 2, 2008 11:32 AM:

" I thought he was responding to Jasper's letter from the other day accusing him of not doing his job.

You don't seem to have much of a platform if all you do is make empty attacks.

Get a quality candidate sometime and you might unseat an incumbent. "

Tim from Bismarck wrote on Sep 2, 2008 11:31 AM:

" Mr. Hamm, You oversee the State Fire and Tornado Fund. The only reason the issue of insurance to value came up is because your dept. failed to require proper insurance limits in the first place on this contract with the Fire and Tornado fund policy. Negotiating a settlement beyond the policy limits or coverage terms sets a bad precedent by your dept. Before you go public with your praises, you should also aknowledge your shortcomings in not having insurance to value on this property in the first place. "

MY MY MY wrote on Sep 2, 2008 11:14 AM:

" Repulican insurance commissioner advertising for freeeee in the republican newspaper. This Adam Hamm has NO honor or sense of decency at all but what can we expect from these guys? "

MamaMia wrote on Sep 2, 2008 10:28 AM:

" More free advertising. "

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