The legislation would enable coastal homeowners to buy comprehensive insurance that covers damages caused by both wind and flooding. Taylor contends insurance companies over-billed taxpayers and underpaid homeowners after Hurricane Katrina by blaming flooding for some damage that had been caused by hurricane winds during the storm.
"Apparently, the insurance industry no longer wants to cover people for wind damage in coastal America or will not provide that coverage at a cost that is reasonable," Taylor says. "Throughout coastal America, property insurance companies have dramatically increased premiums on existing policies, cancelled existing policies, or have stopped writing new policies altogether for our nation's home and business owners. The Multiple Peril Insurance Act will solve this problem.”
Critics say the legislation is misguided.
“While this legislation is well-intentioned, it is both unnecessary and fraught with unintended negative consequences, and it ultimately will not help homeowners in need,” says David Sampson, president and CEO of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, noting that private or state residual markets for windstorm coverage already exist for more than 99 % of all coastal properties in the country. “Right now, we can best serve homeowners by reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program, and by educating insurance consumers about the options that already exist to protect their homes, their families and their financial security.”
