For the longest time, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has been the only way homeowners could secure protection from floods and other rain related damage. While this was all well and dandy for quite some time, the program has slowly become effectively crippled by financial problems and overwhelmed by legal issues in the wake of its policy strategies involving Hurricane Sandy.
Congressmen Dennis Ross and Patrick Murphy are in the act of challenging the current state of the flood insurance industry, however, by sponsoring a bill that would allow and foster the creation of a private market for flood insurance, giving insurance firms the option to offer policyholders their own flood protection.
Ross and Murphy's legislation would work by clarifying a federal law that forces regulated and insured lenders to require flood insurance on whatever mortgages they provide. The two representatives are hoping their own legislation will interpret the law in such a way to allow lenders to provide their own coverage for mortgages.
If everything goes according to plan, a private flood insurance market would prevent NFIP from being overwhelmed, and could provide cheaper flood coverage to homeowners.
The risk of devastating natural disasters like floods will never go away. In fact, as the effects of global climate change take root, the risk has only grown, making insurance a strong investment to protect one's most valuable assets. Contact e2Value today to learn more about our suite of solutions for professionals in the insurance industry. We can help ascertain replacement values for individual homes or for every property in your book.