As seen
in Insurance Journal:
Mississippi will use $50 million in federal grant money to
ease the sticker shock of an anticipated rate increase for wind-pool
coverage of homes in the hurricane zone, officials said Wednesday.Gov. Haley Barbour and Insurance Commissioner George Dale announced the
plan during a news conference in Biloxi. Barbour said the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development has given the state permission to use $30
million this year and up to $20 million next year for the wind-pool
expenses.
You may recall that the Mississippi wind pool had previously requested a nearly 400% rate
increase. Comments from officials in the IJ article suggest
that this should significantly reduce that need.
I’m not entirely sure that I like the idea of the government effectively
subsidizing the folks living on the coast, but over the short term, while
waiting for the market to stabilize, that’s really just a small quibble. I
must, however, applaud Mississippi for invoking some creativity in
addressing the matter.