Your car was just rear-ended by a distracted motorist blabbing on his cell phone and now — through no fault of your own — you’ve got bills to pay for damages. What time is it? It’s HAMMER TIME.

You’ve waited months for your insurance company to make good on its policy and pay for your property damage after Hurricane Ike or some other calamity — and now you’re still waiting. What time is it? It’s HAMMER TIME.

Your child was injured in a Yamaha Rhino accident when the ATV rolled over on a flat surface due to manufacturer design negligence, and now she faces surgery. What time is it? It’s HAMMER TIME.

Your loved one suffered a near-fatal overdose of powerful narcotic fentanyl from a defective Duragesic pain patch, and now requires special care. What time is it? It’s HAMMER TIME.

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It’s been almost three months since Hurricane Ike devastated the Texas Gulf Coast, and hard-hit residents still stagger under the weight of enormous costs to restore their homes. The culprits? In too many cases, it’s balky insurance companies, which delay or deny payments in order to keep the money for themselves, drawing interest on it in the process while homeowners suffer. But even when an insurance company does issue a check, it seems some Texans are finding it tough to collect.

That’s because too many insurance companies are issuing recovery checks to the mortgage company holding the lien, not to the homeowner. Or sometimes the checks are written out to both the mortgage company and the homeowner. But often that check goes only to the mortgage company, which cashes it and keeps the money, or at least slows down its dispersal to desperate homeowners.

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Almost three months since Hurricane Ike roared and roiled over the Houston area, many residents are still stuck with repair needs — and that’s too often because their insurance provider whom they paid in full for coverage has resisted, delayed or denied a fair settlement.

According to a report in today’s Houston Chronicle, more than 1,700 Texans so far have complained to the Texas Department of Insurance about balky insurance companies which refuse to pay, delay paying or offer a only small fraction of what they rightly owe their customers.

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And so, it continues. More than 10 days after Hurricane Ike’s onslaught, hundreds of thousands in southeast Texas still lack electrical power. Debris is piled high, trees are downed and buildings are damaged. With traffic lights out, congestion rules, and hotter weather is sparking hot tempers. Hurricane fatigue has set in.

Yet the Houston area will survive. Why? Because its boomtown spirit knows no other way. Progress may be slow, but it’s happening, and the region eventually will get back to normal — which is to say, bustling, thriving and alive.

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