re: #361 ProMayaLiberal

Insurance companies are designed to take premiums and minimize payouts.

Friends on SI note that they saw adjusters and would claim that damage was due to flooding, not wind. Flooding = no $ because it isn’t covered under the standard policy. Wind damage is covered under homeowners. Despite eyewitnesses saying that the damage was due to wind, not rain, the insurance company denied the claim. They’re fighting with the company on that front.

I don’t think it’d be any different with the federal government in the insurance game. We’d just be blaming the government for the failure to compensate for damage claims instead of the insurance company. Both would have a fiduciary duty to manage claims, risk, and set premiums accordingly.

Thing is, if you’re in a flood zone, your rates will go up. Sandy reset flood zone maps in NYC metro so some areas will now face higher insurance costs (on top of whatever damage sustained). Higher insurance costs may end up doing more to refashion coastal development than anything else, but it also may push lower income residents away from the coast. Only the rich will remain, or afford to be close to the coast (since they can afford to build/rebuild).