People with insurance have to pay FEMA back

[preciousdove]

FEMA Urges Caution When Spending Grant Money
Recipients of FEMA Money Need to Follow Spending Guidelines
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=19258

BATON ROUGE, La. -- People receiving disaster assistance as a result of losses from Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita must use the money according to instructions provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The initial $2,000 in Expedited Assistance was granted to hurricane victims for housing or other essential disaster-related needs. Any other FEMA assistance will be granted for a specific purpose, such as home repair or rental assistance.

Minimal repair grants are available to homeowners to make their residence livable until more extensive repairs can be made. Rental assistance is for homeowners or renters whose homes were destroyed or substantially damaged, so they have a place to live while repairs are being made.

Applicants receive a letter indicating how their grant money should be spent. Recipients of these funds should always keep the receipts for three years. They are required to sign a declaration and a release certifying all funds will be spent on the expenses for which they are intended. If the recipient receives money from insurance policies to cover the same expense, the FEMA disaster money must be returned. Random audits may be made to confirm funds were spent properly.

[MercutioATC]

1. So?

What's wrong with this?

[sandnsea]

6. $293 million to Carnival Cruiselines

that's what. Brown saying ice distribution had gotten out of control, people were using it to chill, *gasp*, beer and pop!!! They'll penny pinch when it comes to the actual people who pay the taxes and just dump money onto the corporations. We wouldn't be in this mess if so many people didn't have such a penny pinching attitude towards their fellow citizens. Business has to make a profit, but apparently human beings have to be audited to make sure they didn't have a cold beer on the government, just the cold, not the beer.

[MercutioATC]

7. I believe the point is that FEMA cash aid is meant for those who NEED it.

If somebody's insurance covers their loss, they SHOULD have to reimburse FEMA.

[sandnsea]

10. They do NEED it

A basic level of NEED, when you've got no money, no job, and your credit cards are maxed, applies whether insurance eventually kicks in or not. I don't think people who pay taxes and support these programs should have to pay it back just because their NEED ends and somebody elses continues. It's not fair, it's petty, and mean-spirited. Maybe every citizen should just have a government accounting and every dime that comes out can be demanded to be paid back in the future.

[MercutioATC]

11. So they should get money for repairs from both FEMA and insurance?

They get the money from FEMA when they NEED it - before the insurance company pays them. When they get reimbursed for repairs from their insurance company, they've essentially been paid twice. Why should they be able to keep that money?

[sandnsea]

12. YES

It's not that much money. Why do the people in this country always get in a snit over the miniscule amount of money a person might get, and not bat an eye over things like Carnival getting millions for doing NOTHING.

This is small amounts of emergency money, not long term repair money. Perhaps you've never lost every blessed thing so you don't know that insurance isn't going to cover all the losses anyway.

Frankly, I'd rather FEMA paid instead of insurance, keep ALL OUR insurance rates from going through the roof.

"The initial $2,000 in Expedited Assistance was granted to hurricane victims for housing or other essential disaster-related needs."

"Minimal repair grants are available to homeowners to make their residence livable until more extensive repairs can be made."

[MercutioATC]

13. Why?

What's the reason for paying them twice for the same repairs?

[sandnsea]

14. Why not?

First of all, I'm mostly talking about the reimbursement for an emergency place to stay, food, etc. If a family gets $2,000 from FEMA, it didn't cover all their immediate emergency expenses. So I don't have a problem with them collecting from insurance too. Because the insurance probably has an emergency cap that doesn't cover all the expenses either.

FEMA gives them $1,000 for immediate repairs, it even enables them to move back into their home. What is saved in the long run makes it worth it, but you can't put a value on what's saved or the savings in bureacracy and paperwork. Why make them pay it back? They do the right thing by not taking every dime from every agency they can, and getting back into their own homes, and we're going to penalize them by asking for pittances of money back?

It's like those stupid ships, we'd be leaps and bounds ahead if we just gave everybody the $40,000 outright instead of paying ships to warehouse people. But oh no, that would be a gravy train and heaven forbid an actual citizen ever got a penny they didn't deserve. No, we save it for the corporation and their million dollar gravy trains.

Remember, it's Frist's family that paid $1.7 billion to settle a fraud case. And we elect him to the Senate and he becomes the Majority Leader. Why do we turn on each other over a thousand dollars. I do not understand it.

Look at this insanity, THIS is what we should be in an uproar over:
http://www.taf.org/

[SoCalDem]

17. The "repayment" should come from their insurance.

It has to be a snap to file the insurance claim and write in the amount received from FEMA..That way State Farm or whoever, just sends the amount to FEMA, and reduces the insurance claim..It should not be rthat big of a deal...

The emergency money for food, shelter whatever, is often not covered by insurance anyway, because there's often a large deductible..

If you are like lots of people (no savings), and all of a sudden you need to survive on your own , with no paychecks, a $1000 deductible would be "less than helpful"..

[REP]

2. So, No Hand-Out for Lott?

I know, I'm a dreamer.

[ingac70]

3. Lott will get money from Social Security instead of FEMA...

I'm sure Halliburton will be the ones that will rebuild his house, @ 50 times market value.

Can't wait to see that big fine patio the prez. spoke of!!:hi:

[anitar1]

4. And yet, Fema will reimburse the Red Cross for

monies spent? Why not send the money back to donors?

[ingac70]

5. That's what pisses me off...

Isn't the Red Cross suppose to be a charity??? The friggin' churches too.

My Union local took up money for Katrina victims, and the company I work for matched the donations, but insisted it go to the Red Cross.

Had I known that, I would have walked up to the next vehicle that pulls in at my local Walmart with a Louisana license plate and gave them my money myself.

[bluedog]

8. I'm so done donating..

just got my homeowners insurance bill...went from 675 to 1247....thats in St Pete Fl....and we had our electric raised..up 20 -30 more a month.our garbage collection.water bill......gas costs..so..all came with a message that stated raises due to higher gas prices.......

with this hurricane and the failure of the government to reinforce the levees in LA and the oil companies total greed for profit....my family is sinking like a rock.......there is no repayment to us.........and I am done giving ...I can not longer afford it....I have my own family to worry about now>

[flyarm]

9. well how about the fema money that went to miami last yr to get *

re-elected..when maimi didn't have any damage from any hurricanes that di not hit miami??

yes a ton of fema money went to untouched miami..those miami people relly needed new t.v.'s and new microwaves and flat screen tv's so *hy could get their vote you know!!

and those of us on the west coast that got pummeled are just now getting trpairs done..over a year later..but don't worry those folks in miami that got your money..they couldnt wait to go vote for * hy boy!!

get that money back first!!...and give all my tax money to the folks in the gulf states!!

these sob's running this country are so criminal i can't even deal with it anymore!!

i lost a home in the 94 northridge earthquake..and i assure you you only get pennies from fema...

for a 2 million dollar home..i got $1,300.00 from fema...yes you read that right..one thousand 3 hundred dollars..and i had to fight like hell to get that!!

but they did offer me a free shrink!!..at one point i took the offer for the shrink and said wonderful can you send me 20 shrinks to hold up my 4 fireplaces so i can go into my house and get clean underwear!!

fema is a joke...

and believe me the time you spend proving you used the money correctly ..you would be better off not getting a dime..that is unless * needs your vote in fla..then you can get thousands when you never even saw a hurricane!!

what a joke!

and do not give to red cross!!

if you feel so inclined to give..here is a good place to give...american indians of louisiana...

they have recieved no help so far!!


As usual, the relief efforts concerning Katrina and Rita are overlooking the Houma Indian Nation in Southern Louisiana. Please find it in your heart to send some supplies there or donate money to them so they can bring back their tribal members who are scattered all over the country in evacuation camps.

Houma Indian Nation
4400 LA hwy 1
Raceland, LA 70394
Please check out our web site for updated info.
www.unitedhoumanation.org

Thank you so much for your help

fly

[wrathofkahn]

16. Ummm...

"i lost a home in the 94 northridge earthquake..and i assure you you only get pennies from fema...

for a 2 million dollar home..i got $1,300.00 from fema...yes you read that right..one thousand 3 hundred dollars..and i had to fight like hell to get that!!"



If you did not have earthquake insurance on your home that cost two million dollars 11 years ago (which means the same property would probably be worth $5M or more in today's dollars), and was located in an unquestionably seismically volitile area, then I'm afraid I'm going to have a very hard time taking pity upon you and the four fireplaces that you had located in your sourthern California home. Sounds like you could have afforded the insurance, or you could have afforded to move to a safer area, without it putting too much of a dent into your wallet.

In fact, I think I would like a refund of that $1300.

[CornField]

15. FEMA needs to update their language

Grants are not to be repaid. If they want to provide funds which might possibly need to be repaid, depending on circumstances, then they need to use a better term.