Seen in the Clarion-Ledger:
Gulf Coast senators have joined to block reauthorization of the federal flood insurance program in an effort to add wind coverage to the legislation.
Mississippi’s Republican Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker have agreed with Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., to use a Senate procedure known as “hold” on the legislation, blocking a Senate vote, to win assurances they could amend the bill.[...]
Wicker said the federal government must offer wind coverage because “since Katrina, it is … common practice for insurance companies to not offer wind insurance at a rate that is even close to affordable.”[...]
“The private insurance market is more than capable of handling wind coverage,” said National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies lobbyist Jimi Grande. “Adding an additional peril to the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Policy) would only drive the program further into debt.”
Although it’s conceivable that government could provide cat wind cover more efficiently, and therefore somewhat more cheaply than the private market, I think Wicker underestimates what the cost of federal coverage would be, especially if the program seeks to be mostly fiscally independent of the rest of the federal government.
If affordability is a concern, well, I’m sure that folks in Wisconsin, Iowa, and North Dakota won’t mind subsidizing the wind risk faced by coastal residents.
Of course, with this being a Presidential election year, and with an electoral-vote-heavy battleground state being chock full of coastal residents….wacky lapses of good sense are definitely possible.