Public Enemy Number One

Years ago I dated a man I met at a singles event in Manhattan. When I asked him what he did for a living, he said he worked for "Public Enemy Number One." In his case he meant the telephone company (which is no longer the monolith it was back then).

Today I'm ready to designate insurance companies as public enemy number one. What good do they do us? When it comes to health insurance, they limit our choices of doctors and hospitals, and even refuse to cover life saving new procedures or drugs. It's all about the bottom line and not about the good of the patient.

When it comes to home insurance, I am freshly outraged. We've had a policy with MetLife Auto and Home for 19 years now. Suddenly, we received notice that we will not be renewed. And why, pray tell? Because of a claim we made three years ago.

For years, our upstairs neighbors had a washing machine in their bathroom that periodically overflowed and leaked through our bathroom ceiling. I don't know how many times the superintendent had to come up and plaster over our ceiling. For months at a time we had an open gaping hole in the ceiling while we watched to see whether there was a leak at any other time than when the washing machine was running. As far as we could tell, there wasn't.

Three years ago, the washing machine overflowed and this time instead of flooding our bathroom the water poured down through a light fixture in the hallway. It was frightening, the light flickering as if flames were about to shoot out of the glass. I had the presence of mind to grab a bucket and collect some of the water that came through, which was all soapy since it came from the washing machine.

We called Metlife, made a claim, and received a small payment of $3-400. We were given no warning that this was our downfall, that perhaps we'd want to reconsider making this claim. Instead, out of the blue three years later we received a letter informing us our home insurance will not be renewed because our apartment has not been "properly maintained." The leak from upstairs and "leaky pipes" were given as the cause.

They're within their legal rights to do this, according to the New York Insurance Law (section 34.25) but it still stinks. You're supposed to pay forever, making their coffers overflow, but if you dare to actually need the protection you're paying for, one or two strikes and you're out.

I also heard, from the Insurance Commissioner's office, that a lot of homeowners on Long Island have been kicked off home insurance because they are in a flood zone. I wonder if that's the case here, whether my neighborhood being in a flood zone resulted in increased scrutiny of our claims and a decision to dump us.

We might be reinstated if we can get a note from the building management company stating that the problem no longer exists. It doesn't. The upstairs neighbors were forced to give up their washing machine (probably the co-op board or the building managers got on their tails) and there has been absolutely no problem in the past 3 years. But even so, Metlife was merely willing to "consider" reinstating us.

The truth is, we will probably have to find home insurance somewhere else, at a higher rate. It's not right, and I'd like to see insurance companies deprived of the power they hold over us.