Live Insurance News

Federal flood insurance program stuck on hold as Hurricane Harvey tallies climb

September 1, 2017August 30, 2017 H. Cutner

Southeastern Texas was devastated by the storm, placing the focus back on NFIP and the GOP restructuring effort. The Federal flood insurance program is in limbo at the moment while Texans face catastrophe following Hurricane Harvey. The Republicans have been trying to restructure the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Their goal has been to partially privatize it. NFIP is a subsidized program that costs taxpayers tens of billions in federal subsidies. The federal flood insurance program is facing an upcoming deadline of September 30. Unless Congress agrees to extend the…

Federal flood insurance program swamped by repeat claims

July 26, 2017July 24, 2017 H. Cutner

NFIP struggles with debate over paying one claim after the next or supporting structure elevations. The federal flood insurance is finding itself drowning in repeat claims made by the same properties that experience regular flooding. At the same time that Congress is trying to work its way through a slew of bills for reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), that same program is paying out multiple times to the same claimants. This has created a call for reducing the number of repeat flooding incidences in order to shrink repeat…

Flood insurance premiums rise and will likely continue rising

April 11, 2017April 7, 2017 G. Turner

Homeowners seeking to purchase coverage against overland flooding will be paying more as of this month. Changes that took effect on April 1 are sending flood insurance premiums skyward. This applies to homeowners who already have coverage against flooding as well as those who are buying it for the first time. National Flood Insurance Program rates rose by an average of approximately 6 percent this month. As a result, the average annual flood insurance premiums are now around $878. This doesn’t include a number of different types of surcharge which…

Trump’s flood insurance surcharge meets solid resistance from Jersey Shore

March 29, 2017March 27, 2017 Marc

Hurricane Sandy Damage flood Insurance surcharge

Three federal lawmakers from that area say they will fight the proposal they’re calling unreasonable. Jersey Shore congressmen aren’t pleased about the proposed flood insurance surcharge the Trump administration has put forward. As a result they’ve said they intend to fight the proposal in order to stop what they feel is an unreasonable cost increase. The lawmakers said the surcharge for the insurance coverage will only cause more suffering. U.S. Congressmen Tom MacArthur (R-03), Frank A. LoBiondo (R-02) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-06) have agreed that the flood insurance surcharge…

Will California flood insurance be better without federal involvement?

March 22, 2017March 20, 2017 Julie Campbell

The state is considering dropping out of the nationwide program in favor of establishing its own. California flood insurance found itself in the spotlight last month when the Oroville Dam threatened to fail. Erosion at the base of the dam’s emergency spillway forced the evacuation of 180,000 people until the area could be deemed safe again. This event greatly increased awareness of the importance of flood insurance within that part of the state. Helicopters were used to place massive boulders to plug the failing emergency spillway. This allowed the state…

Flood insurance program cuts may pay for Trump’s Mexican border wall

March 15, 2017March 13, 2017 Nordstrom

California insurance industry - flood program

Funding reductions to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may divert cash to cover the wall. Reports published by Politico and the Washington Post based on internal budget documents they recently obtained could mean money from the flood insurance program will be diverted to cover President Trump’s border wall between the United States and Mexico. This could mean that, when all is said and done, coastal states may end up paying for a chunk of the wall’s cost. The reports found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is…

Flood insurance policies get the spotlight from Oroville Dam

February 20, 2017February 17, 2017 G. Turner

california road - flood insurance policies

Questions are now being raised about this type of coverage as storms continually threaten nearby residents. The mandatory evacuations have been lifted for Butte County residents and now the spotlight has been placed on flood insurance policies. The spillway at the Oroville Dam has been damaged and with the storms this year, the whole area is threatened. Many people have been looking into flood insurance policies in order to make certain that their coverage will protect them against the risk of a torrent released by the damaged spillway. This problem…