Cash is the blood of any business. The owners of businesses know that without positive cash flow, their businesses could die as sure as a human will die without blood. These owners purchase insurance relying upon prompt and substantial payment of cash benefits following a catastrophe. What happens when the insurance company does not promptly pay?
A story by Wink News, Business Owners Impatient Over Insurance Money, describes the situation prevalent for Hurricane Ian business owners waiting for their insurance benefits months after the loss:
A silly and funny joke shows the harsh reality for businesses hit hardest by Ian.
Just like many others, the Kona Kai motel has been waiting months for insurance money to help them get back to as close as normal as possible after Hurricane Ian.
But now, the owners of the Kona Kai motel say they have had enough.
They tell WINK News they have been waiting seven-plus months to get enough money to cover the clean-up.
They think it will cost a couple of million dollars to get the work done.
If getting people’s attention was an instrument, the owners at Kona Kai motel are playing the saxo-bone.
They have displayed a skeleton lounging in a chair with a sign that reads: ‘Just waiting for the insurance check.’
People stop by to take photos of the sign.
‘Yeah, unfortunately, they’re pulling up on the bike path, which is not cool, the city’s not gonna like that at all,’ said Denise Rodenburg. ‘My husband laughs and says you’re going to have to get a traffic cop out there one of these days.’
Denise and her husband just want to build their business back up from the bones of their motel buildings that Hurricane Ian left behind.
But it’s not easy.
‘Amazon delivered it to my house on the island a couple of days ago and I said you can just drop that, and he said it’s really light. I said yeah because it’s a skeleton,’ she said.
Denise hopes she isn’t a skeleton before she can finally cash her insurance company check.
She said the clean up costs $330,000 and insurance only advanced her $67,000.
‘We’ve got workers lined up,’ she said. ‘Everything is fine, except for the insurance piece.’
Denise said she is not only trying to make ends meet but, keep her staff on board and eventually get some doors back on the five buildings at the Kona Kai.
How does she deal with the frustration?
My father always said that “action speaks much louder than words.” Where are the leaders of Florida’s insurance companies when their customers are suffering? Where are our elected leaders in Florida? Getting ready to run for a new or different office? Where are the fat cat insurance company lobbyists who gave contributions to Florida’s politicians who then passed laws protecting these slow-paying insurers? How long would these insurance executives allow their customers not to pay premiums before canceling their policies—a few weeks?
Public adjusters and restoration contractors are to be congratulated for their work helping business policyholders following Hurricane Ian. But, instead of being congratulated, Florida’s Governor and top insurance official call them derogatory names. Those politicians should hear what business owners not getting paid their claims monies call them and the slow-paying insurance companies. The bad guys in this story are the ones not promptly paying claims and those that support those slow-paying insurance companies.
When are Florida’s elected officials going to do something about the slow-paying insurance crisis which harms business owners? What are the insurance executives doing to correct the slow adjustment? It is not just me saying this because the media is reporting the same thing day after day.
Do these executives in government and the insurance industry really care for business owner policyholders? We do, which is why I report on this plague of late insurance payments.
Thought For The Day
You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
