Nearly 85 percent of a special insurance premium rebate fund forLouisiana home insurance policyholders has gone unclaimed, stateofficials report.

Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said consumers who paid extrafees on their property insurance bill to help fund a shortfall inthe state's high-risk property insurance pool are still entitled torecoup those assessments.

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

But a Department of Revenue spokeswoman confirmed that only214,400 claims totaling $36 million have been entered.

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

The Citizens surcharges can be listed as Regular and EmergencyAssessments for the FAIR Plan and Coastal Plan, both of which areCitizens insurance pools. "We encourage everyone who has beencharged the Citizens assessments and who has not yet obtained arefund from the Department of Revenue to take advantage of thisoption right away," said Commissioner Donelon.

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

Officials said no Hurricane Rita assessments were necessarybecause Citizens was able to pay all of its Rita claims with cashon hand. Commissioner Donelon said regular assessment fees startedshowing up on insurance policies in late 2005, with emergencyassessment fees appearing in late 2006.

Governor Kathleen Blanco also recently signed into lawlegislation that allows policyholders a much more immediate optionto recoup Citizens assessments charged after Jan. 1. Under the newlaw, rebates may be obtained as soon as they are paid by filingform R540 INS with the Department of Revenue.

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