Familiar National Catastrophe Fund Bill Meets Familiar Opposition
However, R.J. Lehmann, a senior fellow at the Washington think tank R Street, the federal government would ultimately be forced to guarantee liabilities from government-run property insurance schemes like the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which currently has $17 billion in liabilities, but would be unable to make good on billions of dollars in claims if a large hurricane were to strike the state.
He said, “While federal cat-fund supporters often claim they would require participating state cat funds to charge actuarial rates to participate in the federal program, the reality is that any fund that did charge actuarial rates would not need federal support in the first place.”
SmarterSafer.org also came out against the bill, saying it would “put taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars in losses, encourage risky development in environmentally sensitive areas, and do nothing to protect people and property in harm’s way.”
SmarterSafer.org’s members include Allianz of America, Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, Chubb Corp., Liberty Mutual Group, National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, National Flood Determination Association, Reinsurance Association of America, SwissRe and USAA.
