EDITORIAL: A bit of good news on flood insurance

May 16-- May 16--There is less than a month left before yet another hurricane season arrives with June. And again home and business owners in south Louisiana and other flood-prone areas throughout the U.S. are nervously awaiting word on what will become of the National Flood Insurance Program.

We all got a bit of good news earlier this week when the U.S. House passed a short-term extension of the program, which is set to expire at the end of May. The measure will now head to the Senate. With any luck, the Senate will give its OK and send the extension to the president for his signature, narrowly averting what could be catastrophic for this area and others.

"With hurricane season quickly approaching, the House took important action today to prevent a lapse in the National Flood Insurance Program, which is critical to millions of families and small businesses across the country, including about 500,000 policyholders in Louisiana alone," U.S. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, said after its passage. "While these short-term patches are necessary to guarantee certainty for policyholders, we must do more."

Scalise, whose district includes the southern portions of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, is absolutely right. Congress must do more. But first, it must accomplish this, for the good of all the people who rely on flood insurance to protect their largest investments.

Flood insurance has long been in need of a long-term fix, a set of reforms that could put it on solid financial ground and make the program viable without the need for numerous short extensions. What those reforms will be and how well they will look after the needs and interests of people who are already in the program is yet to be determined. But as Scalise and others search for consensus on future changes, it is vital that they remember how important the program is.

We have all imagined the chaos that could result from swift, steep premium hikes -- the kinds of increases that might make the insurance unaffordable for the very people who need it the most. And without the program at all, our real estate market would all but cease to exist.

So first, Congress, get this extension done. Then, turn your attention to making the insurance program affordable and sustainable for this and future generations.

Editorials represent the opinion of the newspaper, not of any individual.

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