Perdue signs coastal insurance bill

[ccharles000]

http://projects.newsobserver.com/father_of_the_bride/perdue_signs_coastal_insurance_bill

Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a bill Wednesday that obligates homeowners across the state to pick up the tab if a mega-hurricane hits North Carolina and exhausts the state's emergency insurance pool.

The bill requires homeowners to pay a surcharge, not to exceed 10 percent of their annual premiums, to cover storm damage that exceeds the financial capacity of the Beach Plan, an insurance plan created by the state for people who can't get coverage elsewhere. For the average homeowner, the surcharge will be capped at $65 a year, based on the typical amount of insurance policies in the state.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America praised the new law.

"The General Assembly responsibly chose to solve the problem before the storm," said David Sampson, President and CEO of the group, "instead of after a devastating event."

Legislators passed the new law amid warnings that some insurers would stop doing business in the state without a financial backstop. The surcharge on all homeowners would be triggered only if the state endured what is often referred to as a once-in-a-century storm. The storm would have to cause $2.4 billion to exhaust the Beach Plan's resources. The largest payout by the plan so far was $130 million during Hurricane Fran in 1996.

[ashling]

1. Republicans can always come up with money to back up insurance companies

so as to offset their claims (i.e., subsidize), but not to back up consumers or uninsured. Tell any insurance company that stops selling property insurance that they are forbidden to sell any other forms of insurance in the state.

[yodoobo]

2. Bev Purdue is a Dem

this is the first I've heard about this bill.

But anything the insurance companies praise is cause for concern.

(replied to wrong person btw)