EDITORIAL: When Steve Scalise can't get flood insurance answers, what about the rest of us? [The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.]

Apr. 11—Sure, he's in the minority party — at least until the end of the year — but Steve Scalise from Jefferson Parish is the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.

And when he can't get a straight answer from a federal agency about how it is calculating steep new flood insurance rates, something is unusually out of whack in D.C.

"I've reached out to FEMA multiple times seeking clarity for this new rating system, but our concerns have gone unanswered," Scalise fumed after the Risk Rating 2.0 rate increases began.

We cannot expect Scalise or other members of the Louisiana delegation to be happy about a program that will hit many homeowners with large premium increases.

But Scalise's comments also suggest that members of Congress feel cut out of "comprehensive information on how flood protection and other mitigation efforts are considered when setting individual rates."

Insurance agents, who sell the actual policies of the National Flood Insurance Program, are scratching their heads about the complicated algorithm used to set rates.

"I'm not trying to say there's a conspiracy behind this," Ross Shales, a consultant with Metairie-based Expert Insurance Services who trains real estate agents on the new system, told this newspaper. "But I would say that we have a situation where most of the rest of the country is not going to care about the hidden numbers."

"But we're going to care a lot because we're sitting there like, 'Why are so many people's premiums going up?' We need the details. They haven't been forthright," Shales said.

And if Scalise can't get answers, what about the rest of us?

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