Tag: NFIP

Event: The Private Market for Flood Insurance

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.rstreet.org/2022/07/20/event-the-private-market-for-flood-insurance/

Video:

Excerpt:

The private market for flood insurance in the United States measures approximately $300 million in annual premium. This is less than 10 percent of the $3.7 billion in flood insurance premium written by the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Private insurers offering flood insurance are not operating on the same playing field because many NFIP policies are subsidized and underpriced. The creativity of private insurers, guided by the dynamics of a free and competitive market, will eventually drive out inefficiency and false price signals, and make available to homeowners and businesses the flood insurance they need at the right cost.

We invite you to an online discussion examining the obstacles and opportunities for private insurers featuring flood insurance entrepreneur Trevor Burgess, and R Street’s Jerry Theodorou and Caroline Melear.

Author(s): Jerry Theodorou, Trevor Burgess, Caroline Melear

Publication Date: 20 Jul 2022

Publication Site: R Street

Flood-Prone Homes Could Lose Federal Insurance Under FEMA Plan

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/fema-urges-congress-to-drop-flood-insurance-for-highest-risk-areas-11655384400

Excerpt:

Mr. Toomey asked Jerry Theodorou of the R Street Institute, a conservative-leaning Washington-based think tank, how seriously Congress should look at paying repetitive loss claims. “Indeed, this is a very serious problem,” Mr. Theodorou said. “The numbers speak for themselves, to have such a small percentage of policyholders accounting for close to 40% of the claims dollars paid.”

The flood insurance program — which is the main provider of flood coverage in the U.S. and has issued more than five million policies — has paid out more money to property owners and other expenses than it has collected in premiums from policyholders since Congress created it in 1968. It collects about $4.6 billion in annual revenue from policyholders in premiums, fees and other charges, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Flooding ranks as the country’s most common natural disaster. Scientists predict floods will happen more frequently in neighborhoods that face new risk from rising sea levels and extreme rainstorms due to climate change.

Author(s): Katy Stech Ferek

Publication Date: 16 June 2022

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

R Street Institute Testifies Before Senate Banking Committee on National Flood Insurance Program

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.rstreet.org/2022/06/16/r-street-institute-testifies-before-senate-banking-committee-on-national-flood-insurance-program/

Video:

Additional link: https://www.rstreet.org/2022/06/16/five-solutions-to-help-fix-the-national-flood-insurance-program-from-r-street-testimony-to-the-u-s-senate-banking-housing-and-urban-affairs-committee/

Excerpt:

Regarding the second objective, there is no equitable sharing of costs between the public and private sectors. The private sector is only peripherally involved in bearing flood risk. The involvement of the private insurance sector is restricted to administration of the program, for which insurers are remunerated by the NFIP. The participation of private insurers in flood insurance as a risk-bearer is de minimis, writing less than a tenth the premium collected by the NFIP.

Instead of attaining the overarching goal of reducing economic losses caused by flooding, flood-
related economic losses have increased. In the past decade, U.S. economic losses caused by flooding were $943 billion, close to five times more than the $211 billion cumulative flood-related losses in the prior decade. In this testimony, we highlight five issues standing in the way of the NFIP falling short of achieving its mission, and propose solutions to remedy those problem areas.

Author(s): Jerry Theodorou

Publication Date: 16 June 2022

Publication Site: R Street Institute

Risk Rating 2.0

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance/work-with-nfip/risk-rating

Excerpt:

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is redesigning its risk rating by leveraging industry best practices and current technology, FEMA will deliver rates that are fair, make sense, are easier to understand and better reflect a property’s unique flood risk. FEMA calls this effort Risk Rating 2.0.

alert – warning
Risk Rating 2.0 implementation has been deferred To October 1, 2021.

While the agency initially announced that new rates for all single-family homes would go into effect nationwide on October 1, 2020, some additional time is required to broaden the agency’s analyses of the proposed rating structure across its entire book of business, to include its relationship to communities behind levees. Therefore, FEMA decided to adjust implementation of Risk Rating 2.0 by one year to October 1, 2021.

Date Accessed: 4 March 2021

Publication Site: FEMA