Posted on 03/25/2010 11:47:00 AM PDT by isthisnickcool
More proof that the federal government should not be in the business of "insurance".
Insurance and real estate agents are being advised to prepare their clients for another possible interruption of the federal flood insurance program in three days, which could be longer than the one that happened last month.
The Senate is expected to vote today or tomorrow to extend it but there is concern this may not happen and, if it doesn’t, the program could be down for weeks.
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is currently on schedule to expire at midnight on March 28. The Senate has voted to extend it until the end of the year, while the House has agreed to extend it just one more month, until the end of April. If the Senate, which has been preoccupied with healthcare legislation, does not act quickly to adopt the House measure, the program will expire Sunday night.
The program ran into down-to-the-wire problems last month also. The NFIP extension was incorporated into a bill that extended unemployment benefits and COBRA subsidies. But a vote was delayed for several days by Sen. Jim Bunning, R- Kentucky, over job insurance funding issues unrelated to the flood program. Since there was no vote, the NFIP expired on Feb. 28 for a few days. The night of March 2, the Senate passed an extension of the program until March 28 and President Obama signed the measure right away.
Some fear politics could again get in the way of a Senate vote before the March 28 deadline.
“As we’ve seen, these short term extensions create situations where the NFIP is allowed to lapse because of unrelated political or legislative issues. Hopefully, the program will be extended again and lawmakers will use that time to pass legislation reforming the program and extending it for a longer term,” said Matt Brady, spokesman for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.
“We still believe the extension will pass, but given recent history I think it’s always a good idea for agents and brokers to be prepared for a hiatus,” he said.
John Prible is also concerned about the possibility of delaying tactics in the Senate since the NFIP provision is again tied to a bill on unemployment benefits and COBRA subsidies. Prible is vice president of federal government affairs for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers (the Big “I”). But Prible said Senate staffers he spoke with today are “optimistic” the Senate will act this afternoon or tomorrow.
What really concerns Prible is that if the Senate does not act, the program could be out of operation for two weeks because Congress goes on a recess for that long.
“That’s scary,” Prible said.
While not perfect, the longer Senate extension until Dec. 31, 2010 would have at least kept the program running through the hurricane season, NAMIC’s Brady noted.
The possible hiatus comes at a time when the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), which administers NFIP, state regulators and the industry are trying to get more people to buy flood insurance. March 15-19 was designated National Flood Insurance Awareness Week and state insurance departments have been issuing advisories urging consumers to purchase coverage.
According to the National Weather Service, more than one-third of the country is in danger of flooding this time of year.
The NFIP sunset last month caused headaches for insurance agents and their customers as well as delays for some consumers waiting to close on the sale of a property within a flood hazard area.
While no new policies can be issued during a lapse in authorization, consumers with current policies remain covered by the federal program, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Claims payments are not affected.
Insurance agent and company lobbyists have for years been pressing for a multi-year renewal along with broader reforms to the NFIP to no avail thus far.Bob Rusbuldt, Big “I” CEO and president, the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, has criticized Congress for letting NFIP lapse and not tending to reforms for NFIP.
Hmmm, just in time for the spring flood season....................
These billions and billions of dollars Congress pumps in to the program come directly out of the US Treasury. That's right! Every person in America that pays income tax SUBSIDIZES anyone that has so-called "flood insurance". Amazing, eh? A person living in the middle of the desert or anywhere else that will never flood pays for claims for lows cost "insurance" for someone else who builds on the beach or some other floodway. Which, of course, is the only way a lender would lend someone money to build a house, say, in New Orleans in a flood prone area. For example.
It's a joke! The American taxpayers are suckers! They are paying for "insurance claims" for people that build in stupid locations. And now, with Obamacare we will be paying for claims others have when those people pay little or nothing in to the premium pool and/or have "pre-existing" conditions that make it almost 100% certain they will have a claim. Just like the so-called "flood insurance" Obamacare is NOT insurance!
What Obamacare is, just like Federal Flood Insurance is robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is wrong headed, stiupid and very expensive.
We are governed by people that cannot do simple math. They have no respect for a dollar!
Why am I as a taxpayer responsible for replacing the property of someone who chooses to build or live in a flood area?
Reference bump - thanks! ;-)
Yours is a good point, and thus the annual push to sign up subscribers. they need to expand the risk pool to include a LOT of people who have no realistic chance of ever experiencing a catastrophic flood.
Unfortunately (for FEMA), most people look around their homes, and realize that they live on a hill, not in a flood plain, and decide they could spend that money better elsewhere. The answer of course is to FORCE them to buy coverage, heedless of whether they want or need it.
Wait. That sounds familiar. Force them to buy coverage whether or not they want or need it... Where did I just hear that? Don’t help me, I’ll think of it...
Problem is - since there is Federal Flood Insurance, no private insurance company offers separate flood policies. Homeowners insurance does not cover rising water claims, only FEMA Flood Insurance does.
Our house is not in the 150yr flood plain nor on a coastline, but last April it rained 12 inches in one hour flooding our neighborhood. The $300/year flood policy I purchased for piece of mind was the best $300 I ever spent. We were not required to have flood insurance, but we bought it anyway.
I hope you never have to experience standing in ankle deep water in the middle of your living room like I did. The home repair for our house built in such a “stupid” location (middle of Houston) ran upwards of $70K.
I wish the flood policy was through a private insurer. Dealing with FEMA for a flood claim is quite the ordeal.
The .gov is the only option for flood insurance - soon to be the same as health unfortunately.
Tremendous errors are being found on the new FEMA maps. People are having to pay for “elevation surveys” to show their properties are not in flood zones, after getting a notice from their lender that they now have to pay for flood insurance. It can cost from $1200 to $10000 per year.
Tremendous errors are being found on the new FEMA maps
...exactly!! And we got hit with the flood plain designation in past years by BofA when our neighbor, who had been flooded next door was NOT in a flood plain per Wells Fargo and didn’t have to buy the crummy insurance with the mandatory $1000 deductible. BofA ignored that the Wells folks recognized no need to cover and demanded we pay in order to get the mortgage. Hate those bureaucrats!! And here comes ObamiCommieCare...
ymmv
Of course... which is why the taxpayer has to do it. Ugh.
My home which was built in 1954 has now been put in the flood zone as of a year ago and I am forced to purchase the insurance since i Have a mortgage. Another sham by the FEDS
The reason the areas around New Orlenas are inexpensive for flood insurance is the same reason why it is cheap on the Texas Guld Coast and other areas. Politics and fuzzy math. Politics is involved so areas can be developed thus producing a tax base and fuzzy math because some politicians will argue that allowing construction in flood prone areas ends up producing more in taxes than what can be lost by periodic catastrophes. That's the way they ratonalize the joke of a so-called "flood insurance" system.
We are governed by idiots who have less than a grade school level when it comes to simple math.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.