McCain, GOP Governors Split Over Disaster Fund
National News • June 19, 2008
A congressional proposal to create a national "catastrophe fund" to help states recover from natural disasters has put Republican presidential hopeful John McCain at odds with a handful of GOP ...
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Subject: RE: Figures
Posted On: June 20, 2008, 7:47 am CDT
Posted By: underwriter
Comment:
Here's a scary thought. Once you get this thing into place how long before the states attempt to redefine what a disaster is?
Look, we have potential disasters in each region of the US: flooding in major river areas, volcanic and seismic activity in the west, hurricanes on coastal exposures, blizzard conditions in the north, tornado alley, etc. Heck, we even have a major, although relatively dormant, fault line that runs through Tennessee. On top of that add any of the man made disasters that could occur throughout the US, whether industrial accident or terrorist activity. Disaster coverage could be pooled, but then how would you apportion distribution of funds? And why would you give the gov't management responsibility over the whole thing? Surely they have shown an ineptitude in managing major financial funds (as in health care, social security, the deficit...)
Here's what needs to happen. Let the industry design insurance programs that are tailored to the risk that an individual state can decide to participate in or not. Products could then be constructed by region so exposure specialization could occur. Heck, you could even set up some sort of PayFlex program equivalent to what we have in the health care system. The carrier sees profits in the form of interest income, the states get the benefit of carry over funds from the prior year if the pool isn't tapped, and we avoid the gov't using surpluses as a slush fund for pork barrell politics. Anybody want help building that program?
Subject: RE: Figures
Look, we have potential disasters in each region of the US: flooding in major river areas, volcanic and seismic activity in the west, hurricanes on coastal exposures, blizzard conditions in the north, tornado alley, etc. Heck, we even have a major, although relatively dormant, fault line that runs through Tennessee. On top of that add any of the man made disasters that could occur throughout the US, whether industrial accident or terrorist activity. Disaster coverage could be pooled, but then how would you apportion distribution of funds? And why would you give the gov't management responsibility over the whole thing? Surely they have shown an ineptitude in managing major financial funds (as in health care, social security, the deficit...)
Here's what needs to happen. Let the industry design insurance programs that are tailored to the risk that an individual state can decide to participate in or not. Products could then be constructed by region so exposure specialization could occur. Heck, you could even set up some sort of PayFlex program equivalent to what we have in the health care system. The carrier sees profits in the form of interest income, the states get the benefit of carry over funds from the prior year if the pool isn't tapped, and we avoid the gov't using surpluses as a slush fund for pork barrell politics. Anybody want help building that program?