Flood insurance. It’s likely one of your favorite subjects. When you were a kid, you probably played with your friends a fun game about who was the best insurance broker. The one who sold the most policies would win.
Then you grew up and realized there’s so much more to life than flood insurance, such as having a job in another field because there are simply not enough insurance broker jobs for every single person on the planet. Which is a good thing, because if we were all insurance brokers, then we wouldn’t have any clients.
Ok, ok. In all seriousness, while flood insurance is a boring topic for most people, it is one of the most important subjects for those who live anywhere near water; and in Florida, that means all of us.
A bit of back story
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the government entity people contact after a flood or a hurricane causes damage to their homes. However, for over a decade now, FEMA has been facing dire financial problems, and as recent as 2017, it was still dealing with claims relating to 2012’s hurricane Sandy.
To add insult to injury, their program was set to expire in September of 2017, unless Congress agreed to expand it. But between attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and tax reform, flood insurance seemed to be placed in a back burner. That said, on November of 2017, the House voted to authorize the NFIP to continue until 2022; and as of January 22, 2018, the Senate is expected to vote on the issue. In the meantime, FEMA is being proactive in attempts to find solutions.
Partnering up with private insurance providers
Regardless of the decisions Congress may reach, experts agree that it’s time to spread the risk, instead of putting all of the eggs in the FEMA basket. And last month (January 2018) that is exactly what happened: FEMA completed a reinsurance placement with 28 private providers, transferring a significant portion of the risk to the private sector.
What does this mean for you?
The more competition, the better the prices. But before even deciding which policy to purchase, it would make sense to know whether your property is located in a high-risk flood zone. Even if it’s been designated as such before, climate changes and erosion have resulted in FEMA changing their rate maps in the past. To find out whether your designation have changed, National Flood Experts can do a free evaluation. Give us a call. You have nothing to lose and money to save.