“We have heard stories of consumers getting substantial savings from private flood insurance as opposed to the NFIP product,” said Miller. “In one particular case, a consumer’s annual premium under NFIP was $7,500, but a private plan offered similar coverage for $1,415. In another instance, the federal NFIP premium was $6,000, while private insurance was just $900.
If this is true, why could our industry not compete with subsidized rates in the past, but now we can and at 1/5 the cost? That does not make sense to me.
Doesn’t make sense because it’s all BS. The reason the Feds write it is because private can’t write, make it at all affordable, and make a profit. As soon as the Feds decided that they had to charge actuarial rates to get to an unsubsidized program (Biggert/Waters Act), rates went through the roof, and they aren’t even done phasing in the rate changes! This is such nonsense. Just like the BS about buying health insurance across state lines.
We are already seeing a private carrier that spun off of National Flood Services quoting policies cheaper than NFIP in Oregon. Not as dramatic as those quoted in the article but definitely better. The article also quotes a $350,000 coverage maximum for NFIP, last time I checked, (yesterday), they were still limited to $250,000.
Thanks for the mention, Tim. That private carrier you mentioned is NFS Edge and you are one of many agents experiencing the same savings. I can answer any questions anyone may have about the program.
Major difference: NFIP renewal are guaranteed, private not. As soon as it becomes unprofitable, Private Co leaves the market, policy holder must re-enter NFIP but w/o continuous coverage grandfathering
The reason there is a National Flood Insurance Program in the first place is that private insurers deem flood insurance too risky. Part of that may be related to flood rates that in some cases are inadequate.
There are some companies offering private flood insurance but it will most likely not become main stream and could disappear with another Katrina or similar storm.
Nevertheless this move could “help”. There are many thousands of homes, perhaps millions, that are build on grade and far below the Base Flood Elevation thus the issue of insurance by the privates or NFIP will be a problem for a very long time.
The private insurance market place in CA is making it much easier to write Condo Assns with multiple buildings because we can place them on one policy and the deductibles are per building not on the TIV. One Assn I compared was as follows: 5 bldgs, TIV- $5M. NIFP 25K ded – $21,037 (2015), Lloyds $25K ded – 16,523, Lloyds 2% ded – $14,606, Lloyds primary + excess $25K ded – $17,900.
“We have heard stories of consumers getting substantial savings from private flood insurance as opposed to the NFIP product,” said Miller. “In one particular case, a consumer’s annual premium under NFIP was $7,500, but a private plan offered similar coverage for $1,415. In another instance, the federal NFIP premium was $6,000, while private insurance was just $900.
If this is true, why could our industry not compete with subsidized rates in the past, but now we can and at 1/5 the cost? That does not make sense to me.
Doesn’t make sense because it’s all BS. The reason the Feds write it is because private can’t write, make it at all affordable, and make a profit. As soon as the Feds decided that they had to charge actuarial rates to get to an unsubsidized program (Biggert/Waters Act), rates went through the roof, and they aren’t even done phasing in the rate changes! This is such nonsense. Just like the BS about buying health insurance across state lines.
We are already seeing a private carrier that spun off of National Flood Services quoting policies cheaper than NFIP in Oregon. Not as dramatic as those quoted in the article but definitely better. The article also quotes a $350,000 coverage maximum for NFIP, last time I checked, (yesterday), they were still limited to $250,000.
Thanks for the mention, Tim. That private carrier you mentioned is NFS Edge and you are one of many agents experiencing the same savings. I can answer any questions anyone may have about the program.
Dave Zeornes
Business Development
NFS Edge Private Flood Insurance
dave.zeornes@nationalfloodinsurance.com
Major difference: NFIP renewal are guaranteed, private not. As soon as it becomes unprofitable, Private Co leaves the market, policy holder must re-enter NFIP but w/o continuous coverage grandfathering
The reason there is a National Flood Insurance Program in the first place is that private insurers deem flood insurance too risky. Part of that may be related to flood rates that in some cases are inadequate.
There are some companies offering private flood insurance but it will most likely not become main stream and could disappear with another Katrina or similar storm.
Nevertheless this move could “help”. There are many thousands of homes, perhaps millions, that are build on grade and far below the Base Flood Elevation thus the issue of insurance by the privates or NFIP will be a problem for a very long time.
The private insurance market place in CA is making it much easier to write Condo Assns with multiple buildings because we can place them on one policy and the deductibles are per building not on the TIV. One Assn I compared was as follows: 5 bldgs, TIV- $5M. NIFP 25K ded – $21,037 (2015), Lloyds $25K ded – 16,523, Lloyds 2% ded – $14,606, Lloyds primary + excess $25K ded – $17,900.
Just afraid the banks won’t accept the policies.