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Panel unveils bid to fix beach insurance

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Thursday, June 25, 2009

(Updated 1:12 pm)

By Emery P. Dalesio
Associated Press

RALEIGH (AP) — North Carolina lawmakers have started grappling with how the underfunded Beach Plan would keep its insurance promises after a bad hurricane season.

The House Insurance Committee on Thursday began considering a proposal to cap insurers' risks from a catastrophe, and shift remaining rebuilding costs to all North Carolina policyholders.

The bill would allow every property insurance policy to rise by up to 10 percent if the Beach Plan's payouts surpass about $2.4 billion. The insurance industry says that's almost double what the Beach Plan would have had to pay if 1996's Hurricane Fran came ashore now.

The Insurance Department estimates the average $600 homeowners policy could rise up to $60 a year to pay Beach Plan claims.

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GCS Parent

June 25, 2009 - 2:50 pm EDT

This is absured! If someone builds on the beach their risk should never be capped. How is it fair to ask all NC policyholders to help pay for a catastrophe coastal property owners willfully put themselves in front of? If that happens we should all get to go and use their houses for vacation whenever we want! If you are going to build a home in the "catastrophe zone" then you should pay a market rate to insure that home. Not a federally subsidized rate. Then the federal money would be available to help with recovery. This is the insurance lobby working hard in Raleigh to sock it to all of us!

Illiterati

June 25, 2009 - 3:49 pm EDT

I agree! Why should I pay more when I wasn't foolish enough to build or buy property in a high-risk area? If someone chooses to live in a risky area, then they should bear the burden of insuring their own risk. Either that, or the insurance companies should refuse to cover them, period. How much harder are we supposed to work to pay for all of this nonsense? If it isn't paying for some politician's pet project, it's easing the financial burdens of foolish people. Enough!