Congress needs to get it right with Flood Insurance

The flood insurance program (NFIP) is at another funding deadline and Congress has to vote to extend it. This short windows of time for a valid flood program is not making it any easier to sell the coverage to consumers. Most customers know that the program is really poorly run and funded and only buy the coverage when they are forced to by the bank. To make matters worse the claim payments and settlements have not been stellar. I went to a regional meeting of a large Northeast insurer and they said after hurricane Irene only 60% of the flood claims have been settled. This is appalling. So this is a call out to Congress to get it right this time. The nation needs the flood program to be on solid footing to grow the economy. The private sector is not prepared to take it over.  Let's hope this Congress does what it needs to do to fix the broken NFIP. Until next time be careful out there and know your risks. K

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