Common Sense Along the Coast:

Straight AheadSeveral major insurance companies have been announcing plans to reduce or eliminate their coverage for home-owners who live along the Gulf Coast. The latest was State Farm, who made an announcement today. Whether you view this from an environmental or a business standpoint, it looks as though common sense may finally prevail along the coast. Property owners who live within 1000ft. of the Atlantic Ocean of the Gulf of Mexico should expect, after all, that eventually, their property will be destroyed by a hurricane. Insurance companies realize this, too, and cannot continue to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in claims and expect to stay in business, or keep doing business in high-risk areas. Insurance premiums will have to rise. In some cases, the cost will be prohibitive for property owners. In many cases, it simply will not make sense to insure these high-risk properties. Environmentalists have been concerned for years about the implications of "over-building" along the coast. Weather forecasters have been warming that there is a strong probability of an impending catastrophic loss of life, just waiting to happen along our heavily populated Atlantic and Gulf coasts. I'm not an avid environmentalist. Even less am I a weather expert. You don't have to be either, however, to realize the risks that people are taking to live on a beach--especially in the middle of hurricane season. An added factor is that sometimes, these property owners expect the tax-payers to bail them out by fixing up their beaches, repairing the few public amenities that may exist, and rebuilding their roads. Being mad at the insurance companies for wanting to remain financially stable doesn't make much sense. This reminds me of the lady who was present at a clergy meeting I attended a few years ago. She was unhappy that a grocery store chain had closed one of its stores in a neighborhood of predominantly poor and elderly residents, even though the chain was losing money on that particular store! Wonder what that lady would do if she were in the insurance business!