STANDARD

According to The Standard

Erin L. Ayers Editor

Sara Jacobi Staff Writer

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John C. Cross, Esq. Publisher

Game Off! Game On!

Issued every Friday, except July and August then biweekly. No issue Christmas week. Published by Standard Publishing Corp., 155 Federal St., Boston, MA 02110. Phone (617) 457- 0600. Fax (617) 457-0608. www.spcpub.com. Subscription price $92 a year, $157 for two years (prepaid). Single copies may be purchased at the office of the publisher for $5. © Standard Publishing Corporation 2010 (ISSN 0038-9390)

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Erin L. Ayers

Just before The Standard’s deadline, President Ba-rack Obama signed into law a measure that extends the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) until March 28. At that time, theoretically, Congress will dither about for awhile, alarm the insurance community into thinking flood insurance will be unavailable and then the program will be extended for another 30 days or so.

Or it will lapse briefly, as it did this week. And apart from some indignant statements from insurance trade groups about how disappointed they were in Congress, very little happened. Agents were instructed to haul out the information distributed last fall by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on what to tell customers with NFIP policies (“Your claims will be covered”) and customers without policies (“Sorry, you can’t have one right now”).

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) had the best comment on this situation, the second lapse in a row.

“Failing to act in time – again – and allowing the National Flood Insurance Program to expire is disconcerting,” said Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and political affairs for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC). “If nothing else, this episode should make it clear that short-term extensions, which can be blocked by any senator or congressional caucus, are untenable.” The NFIP lapsed for about nine hours in December. I was not awake at the time; however, I don’t think it was an occasion where all heckfire broke loose.

Despite that, the lapsing on both occasions is, as NAMIC points out, disconcerting. This is a fairly signficant program, the only option for most people to obtain flood insurance without going to excess markets. Flooding has obviously become a more serious problem in recent years, with more homeowners finding their properties are more susceptible to flooding than FEMA maps might suggest.

It is also disconcerting for the fact that it reflects just how important the issue of flood insurance is to Congress. (It’s not.) A 42-year-old program that has serious operational problems and needs comprehensive reform should be something at least some portion of the congressional body can focus on and that the insurance industry can agree upon.

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