A Broke, and Broken, Flood Insurance Program
- 7 years ago
A Broke, and Broken, Flood Insurance Program
They say bringing in private insurers would make the program’s troubles worse, because the insurers would cherry-pick the most profitable customers
and leave the government with all the “severe repetitive-loss properties.”
Mr. Poulton did not dispute that.
Some members of Congress — including Democrats like Senators Chuck Schumer of New York
and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, whose states have significant flood exposure and bad memories of Hurricane Sandy — are resisting.
August J. Matteis, who is representing Mr. Clutter in his lawsuit, said the insurance program had been so criticized by Congress for its borrowing
that by the time Sandy blew in, it had instructed contractors to hold the line on claims.
“The private market is anxious, willing and completely able to take everything except the severe repetitive-loss properties,” said Craig Poulton,
chief executive of Poulton Associates, which underwrites American risks for Lloyd’s of London, the big international insurance marketplace.
In August, when Hurricane Harvey was bearing down on Texas, David Clutter was in court, trying one
more time to make his insurer pay his flood claim — from Hurricane Sandy, five years before.
is not designed to handle catastrophic losses like those caused by Harvey, Irma
and Maria,” Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a letter to members of Congress after the three huge hurricanes barreled into the United States this season.
They say bringing in private insurers would make the program’s troubles worse, because the insurers would cherry-pick the most profitable customers
and leave the government with all the “severe repetitive-loss properties.”
Mr. Poulton did not dispute that.
Some members of Congress — including Democrats like Senators Chuck Schumer of New York
and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, whose states have significant flood exposure and bad memories of Hurricane Sandy — are resisting.
August J. Matteis, who is representing Mr. Clutter in his lawsuit, said the insurance program had been so criticized by Congress for its borrowing
that by the time Sandy blew in, it had instructed contractors to hold the line on claims.
“The private market is anxious, willing and completely able to take everything except the severe repetitive-loss properties,” said Craig Poulton,
chief executive of Poulton Associates, which underwrites American risks for Lloyd’s of London, the big international insurance marketplace.
In August, when Hurricane Harvey was bearing down on Texas, David Clutter was in court, trying one
more time to make his insurer pay his flood claim — from Hurricane Sandy, five years before.
is not designed to handle catastrophic losses like those caused by Harvey, Irma
and Maria,” Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a letter to members of Congress after the three huge hurricanes barreled into the United States this season.