Nearly 85 percent of a special insurance premium rebate fund for Louisiana home insurance policyholders has gone unclaimed, state officials report.

Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said consumers who paid extra fees on their property insurance bill to help fund a shortfall in the state's high-risk property insurance pool are still entitled to recoup those assessments.

Last year the Legislature appropriated $239 million to refund Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation assessments being paid by most property insurance policyholders in Louisiana.

But a Department of Revenue spokeswoman confirmed that only 214,400 claims totaling $36 million have been entered.

Property policyholders who already filed their 2006 state tax return can still submit an amended tax form, along with the declarations page of their policy, to recoup the full amount paid in Citizens assessments, Mr. Donelon said.

The Citizens surcharges can be listed as Regular and Emergency Assessments for the FAIR Plan and Coastal Plan, both of which are Citizens insurance pools. "We encourage everyone who has been charged the Citizens assessments and who has not yet obtained a refund from the Department of Revenue to take advantage of this option right away," said Commissioner Donelon.

Without the assessments, Citizens could not afford to pay all of its Hurricane Katrina damage claims, which totaled about $1 billion.

Officials said no Hurricane Rita assessments were necessary because Citizens was able to pay all of its Rita claims with cash on hand. Commissioner Donelon said regular assessment fees started showing up on insurance policies in late 2005, with emergency assessment fees appearing in late 2006.

Governor Kathleen Blanco also recently signed into law legislation that allows policyholders a much more immediate option to recoup Citizens assessments charged after Jan. 1. Under the new law, rebates may be obtained as soon as they are paid by filing form R540 INS with the Department of Revenue.

"It's designed to give relief to policyholders as soon as possible, so they don't have to wait until tax time for reimbursement," said Commissioner Donelon of the law.

Special Reports /

La. Policyholders Fail To Collect Rebates

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