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FLORIDIANS GETTING THE SHORT END OF THE STICK
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published October 2, 2017
If this doesn’t anger you,
nothing will. Have you ever thought about why your flood
insurance premiums are so low while your windstorm premiums are
so high? The answer is really very simple. The entire country
shares the burden of the National Flood Insurance Program. It
is a National Program where the insured risk is spread
throughout the entire country. Nobody pays extra because they
are in a state that is more prone to get hit with a flood. It’s
a one for all, all for one program.
To the contrary, insurance
protection against windstorm events like a hurricane are not
covered by a national program like flood insurance is.
Floridians pay exorbitant amounts for private windstorm
insurance because there is no national insurance program that
covers the risk of hurricanes.
Most of the natural disasters
in Florida are the result of wind driven damage and not flood
damage. Notwithstanding this, Floridians contribute a
whopping 35% of all the premiums collected for the National
Flood Insurance Program. In return, Floridians only receive
about one-quarter of what they pay into the program.
Let’s look at this in even
easier to understand terms. The victims of Hurricane Harvey
primarily suffered damage as a result of flooding, not wind
storm damage. If these victims had flood insurance, it was
cheap, and they will receive pay-outs from the national flood
insurance program in place. Floridians will wind up paying
35% of all pay-outs to the victims of Hurricane Harvey and the
other states pick up the other 65%. Now let’s look at the
victims of Hurricane Irma in Florida. Most of the damage here
was wind driven. Floridians get zero help from a national
program and instead hope that their private insurance carrier
does the right thing and pay their claims, even though they paid
their insurer incredible amounts of money for annual windstorm
premiums. Floridians pay for the damage in Texas, but only
Floridians pay for the damage to Florida and we get back zero
from the other states. How is this remotely fair to
Floridians?
It’s time Floridians stop
getting taken advantage of. Our windstorm premiums are out of
control, and trust me, it’s going to get much worse as a result
of Irma and Harvey next year. It’s time to contact your elected
federal officials and demand that Congress pass legislation that
creates not just a national flood insurance policy, but a policy
that covers damage as a result of wind, and specifically
hurricanes. It’s only fair.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated from
the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for more than 2
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decades and is the owner of Glazer
and Associates, P.A. a seven attorney law firm with offices in
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and satellite offices in Naples,
Fort Myers and Tampa.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host
of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs
at noon each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He is the first attorney in the
State of Florida that designed a course that certifies
condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium
Board of Directors and has now certified more than 10,000
Floridians all across the state. He is certified as a Circuit
Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has mediated
dozens of disputes between associations and unit owners. Eric
also devotes significant time to advancing legislation in the
best interest of Florida community association members.
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