R Street’s insurance policy program explores efficient and effective market-based approaches to public policy questions that involve the transfer of risk. Among its priorities are risk-based insurance regulation, ending environmentally destructive taxpayer subsidies through the National Flood Insurance Program and the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. and exploring the benefits of mitigation through programs like the RESTORE Act and the Coastal Barrier Resources System.
The Issue
Publications
Dear Senator,
I write to encourage you to take up and pass S. 3625, sponsored by Sens. Neil Breslin, D-Albany, and James L. Seward, R-Milford. This legislation would exempt from rate and form…
Federal government funds Louisiana program to buy repeatedly flooded homes
Media Coverage
From Heartland Institute:
Rebuilding DisastersCongress established a similar buyout program at FEMA and NFIP in NFIP’s 2004 reauthorization, but the authorities allowed property owners to…
, BestWire
Rule Compels Lenders to Accept Non-NFIP Policies for Mortgage Mandate
Media Coverage
The final rule is an improvement over the original proposed rule, R.J. Lehmann, R Street director of finance, insurance and trade policy, told Best’s News Service.
“It makes clear that policies…
Private Flood Insurance Gets Boost From Regulators
Media Coverage
From the Wall Street Journal:
“If the private market can take care of it, that’s just more sustainable for taxpayers and for society in general,” said R.J. Lehmann, a senior fellow at the R…
New rule paves the way for larger flood insurance market
Media Coverage
From the Insurance Business Magazine:
“If the private market can take care of it, that’s just more sustainable for taxpayers and for society in general,” R.J. Lehmann, a senior fellow at…
, The Hill
Why Ocasio-Cortez should make flood insurance reform a priority
R.J. Lehmann
The House Financial Services Committee long has been a coveted assignment for freshmen lawmakers of both parties, in no small measure because of the opportunities it affords to build a fundraising…
Trump eases off using disaster relief funds for his wall after bipartisan pushback
Media Coverage
From the Washington Examiner:
“The main problem is you have set bad precedent that this is just explicitly a slush fund, and if a president wants to decide something is a disaster, you can spend…
Georgia’s Insurance Regulation Needs Improvement
R.J. Lehmann & Marc Hyden
Like the underachieving student in the back of the class, Georgia recently earned a C grade for its regulation of the insurance market, as laid out in the annual Insurance Regulation Report Card…
Trump’s tariffs are wreaking havoc on farmers
Clark Packard
Farmers and ranchers were a key political constituency for President Trump in 2016. But after a year of trade-policy skirmishes, the president’s policy choices have fallen particularly hard on the…
Which states have the best insurance regulatory environments?
Media Coverage
From PropertyCasualty360:
For the fifth straight year, the R Street Institute, a public policy research organization, has compiled its Insurance Regulation Report Card, the annual examination of…