President Obama will be delivering the annual State of the Union address this week on the 24th of January. In the past, the president has used this occasion to highlight some of the major issues that have put the nation on edge. He has also outlined plans legislators have come up with to fix a number of these problems. This year, consumer advocates from SmarterSafer.org are urging the president to make a statement regarding the state of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Thousands of people get their flood insurance policies through the federal program. While flood insurance itself is not extraordinarily expensive in most of the U.S., it can be in coastal areas where frequent storms and flooding cause damage to homes and other properties. NFIP was designed to alleviate the cost of insurance policies in these areas by offering rates that were well below those coming from private insurance companies. While this was initially welcomed by consumers with open arms, the program is now $18 billion in debt, as it does not generate enough revenue from premiums to offset losses from natural disasters.
Legislators have been working to fix the problems in the program but have only been able to grant it extensions thus far. SmarterSafer.org is hoping that president Obama will speak out on the matter and pressure legislators to find a resolution once and for all. As it stands now, NFIP cannot survive without reform. If the program is allowed to collapse, thousands of consumers will lose their insurance coverage.
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