Bailing out flooded homes near beach

Published: January 13, 2013

“Congress approves $9.7B in flood aid for superstorm” (News, Jan. 5) says (regarding the FEMA flood insurance program), “Congress created the FEMA-run program in 1968 because few private insurers cover flood damage.” Well, any private insurance company would provide flood coverage — just like any business — for a price. It's just that the price might be more than the homeowner would want to pay because of the high flood risk of these homes built near the ocean and the knowledge that the homeowner would probably be bailed out by the federal government anyway.

Perhaps the National Flood Insurance Program needs to raise rates to cover its losses, like most smartly run businesses would, instead of borrowing or charging the taxpayer. The NFIP is coverage for those homeowners on the beach front who are unwilling, or unable, to pay the true cost of living on the beach front. They expect taxpayers to bail them out. This isn't an appropriate function of government. And I don't think most Americans like the idea of supporting this stuff.

Greg Clift, Anadarko


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