FEMA: Thousands of Sandy Claims Review Cases Still Pending

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) still has thousands of Superstorm Sandy claims review cases that are waiting to be examined, latest figures show.

FEMA said that as of Dec. 11, 2015, the agency has closed 2,694 Sandy flood insurance claims review cases, representing 16 percent of the 16,661 cases that have been submitted and confirmed to be eligible for review.

FEMA began mailing out letters last May to approximately 142,000 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders who filed Sandy-related claims, offering claimants who think their NFIP claims were not fairly paid out a chance for a review.

Claimants were required to opt-in and register by the filing deadline – initially set for Sept. 15, 2015, but later extended to Oct. 15, 2015 – to be considered for a review and to confirm their eligibility. Overall, 18,540 claimants requested a review.

FEMA said that of the 2,694 review cases that have closed as of Dec. 11, 594 have received additional payments. The average payment was $16,327 per case, and approximately $9.7 million has been paid out in total so far.

FEMA said the agency will make sure to give policyholders every dollar they are owed under their policy.

“Our team is working as swiftly as possible – in shifts and seven days a week – to review and adjudicate these claims properly. We’re dead set on restoring trust in this important program,” a FEMA spokesperson told Insurance Journal, “and we’ll continue pushing forward until each policyholder gets every dollar they are owed under their policy.”