Claims News Service, Oct. 25, 11:00 a.m. EDT -- In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, an on-line study of approximately 1,000 U.S. adults conducted by Ipsos, a global survey-based market research company, shows that while nearly all respondents approve of the job being done by charities and non-profits, only 18 percent approve of the job being done by the insurance industry. Forty-three percent of Americans disapprove of the job being done by insurance companies and 39 percent are unable to take sides at this time.

"The results for the insurance industry are troubling. The insurance industry rates below all levels of government (national, state, and local) and aid organizations in its response to the hurricane," said Thomas Miller, Regional Senior Vice-President and Managing Director of Ipsos Public Affairs in the U.S.

"The hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast have had a devastating effect on people's lives and livelihoods, and could soon be having a devastating effect on the insurance industry. The tremendous damage wreaked by Hurricane Katrina will take unprecedented amounts of money and effort to fix. Tensions among the key players--the Federal, state and local governments, their disaster and relief agencies, the insurance industry and hundreds of thousands of policyholders--seem unavoidable."