An interesting article appears in today’s Sun Herald:
Congressman Gene Taylor doesn’t believe residents of Gulf Coast states need flood insurance.
Rather, he thinks people need hurricane or natural disaster insurance to cover any destruction caused by Mother Nature.
Taylor’s home in Bay St. Louis was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and his insurance company, State Farm, is claiming the damage was done by water, not wind. Taylor is suing the company.[...]
“I cannot find the words to express my anger and disappointment at the way the insurance companies have treated the people of South Mississippi,” Taylor said. “I think the right thing to do is change the name of the (federal) program… (but) I wish the private sector would have stepped up and solved this problem.”
Personally, I like the approach I wrote about earlier better. The private sector mechanism already exists; however the private sector has all-too-frequently sucked when it comes to educating the public about insurance matters. And, the reports of insurers waving off wind damage as water damage are skeezy and and the practice should be stopped…if the reports are indeed true. (I can imagine it happening; I can also imagine upset homeowners not really understanding what they’re being told by the adjusters and insurers.)