NEW ORLEANS — Disgusted with his insurance company after Hurricane Katrina, the Rev. Simmie Harvey let his homeowner policy lapse and left his house in the hands of a higher power. Somebody up there must like the 88-year-old Baptist minister: His newly uninsured house escaped serious damage last month when a tornado ripped through the city’s Uptown neighborhood and toppled a tree that narrowly missed his home. ‘I wasn’t lucky. I’m blessed,’ he said. ‘I’m going to be all right. The Lord takes care of me.’ Facing soaring premiums or feeling shortchanged by their insurers, a growing number of homeowners and businesses in Louisiana and Mississippi are ‘going bare,’ or dropping their coverage altogether, insurance agents and consumer advocates say. Many more are drastically reducing their coverage. ‘I have every belief that it’s going to be more and more common,’ said Amy Bach, executive director of the United Policyholders advocacy group. ‘If it’s a choice between eating or paying their insurance bills, of course they’re going to eat.’ With the new hurricane season beginning June 1, it is a risky strategy. These people could lose everything in a storm or some kind of tragic accident […]