The insurance industry's reaction to Hurricane Katrina was insufficient and, in some cases, only made the situation worse for policyholders, according to a report issued yesterday by the group Americans for Insurance Reform.

Insurance trade groups denied there was any failure and the American Insurance Association in Washington labeled the study "untrue, irresponsible and reckless."

Joanne Doroshow, one of AIR's co-founders and the executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy, said the report "shows that many policyholders who were exhausted, traumatized, and without food, water or a roof over their heads, looked to their insurance carriers to come to their aid as they struggled to survive--but what many found was not help at all, but rather resistance by insurance companies to pay them anything, leaving victims frustrated and angry, not to mention destitute."