FEMA dollars come with warning

The millions of Federal Emergency Management Agency dollars given to help local tornado victims recover from the recent storms come with a word of warning: If you receive money from FEMA and insurance agencies for the same losses, you will be asked to repay FEMA.

“In a perfect world, it wouldn’t happen,” FEMA spokesmen Greg Hughes said. “But we absolutely tell them there is that possibility.”

Known as recoupment, the process can happen more than a year after the event, if FEMA receives information that duplicate benefits were paid.

To avoid duplication, applicants are asked at registration if they have insurance. Generally, applicants are asked to submit a copy of their insurance settlement or their denial letter in writing before they are eligible for FEMA assistance.

Hughes said disaster victims can help by making sure they have all their insurance paperwork with them when they file for claims.

These days, FEMA has changed its processes to avoid such duplication, spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said. Most of the notices now being sent are for disasters that happened years ago, she said.

“Recoupment is a process that Congress requires FEMA and other federal agencies to undertake, and we understand it raises many concerns, especially among current disaster survivors,” Racusen said.

“But in recent years, we have worked to fix many of the errors that led to recoupment actions in previous disasters. Under our current leadership, strong protections have been put in place to greatly reduce the error rate of improper disaster payments.”