Wednesday, May 16,2012
By: Carrie Van Brunt-Wiley
Officials in Missouri are asking residents who were victims of the powerful Joplin tornado on May 22 of last year but haven't yet filed a home insurance claim to talk to their insurance company immediately.
The Missouri Department of Insurance issued a bulletin, telling homeowners that many insurance policies have a 12-month deadline for people to file claims. After that point, consumers may not receive the full value of their claim.
"In many cases, consumers are paid the full value for destroyed property after they pay to repair or replace it and turn in receipts to their insurance company," said Insurance Director John Huff. "After all they've been through, we want Joplin residents to receive full reimbursement for their expenses related to tornado recovery."
The agency says that some policies actually have a six-month deadline, but the state got a good response from insurers when they asked for those deadlines to be voluntarily extended to a year.
The devastating Joplin storm, which carried winds in excess of 200 miles per hour, was one of the deadliest tornadoes in recent memory. Officials say they expect total insurance claims to be near $2 billion.
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