Sen. Scott: We Must Reform the Broken National Flood Insurance Program

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 -- Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, issued the following news release on Oct. 7, 2021:

Senator Rick Scott announced the introduction of three bills to reform the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) which would help lower the cost of flood insurance and ensure the property insurance market better serves Florida families. According to FEMA data, since the inception of the NFIP, Florida policyholders have paid more than $19 billion in premiums, but only collected approximately $5.6 billion in claims reimbursements, which equates to a nearly 4 to 1 ratio of premiums paid to claims reimbursements. The situation Florida families face is clearly unfair and exactly why Congress must make reforms to encourage participation in the private flood insurance market as an alternative for hardworking Americans across our country.

Senator Rick Scott said, "The National Flood Insurance Program is a perfect example of what happens when government tries to take over an industry - it fails. The NFIP is not only buried in debt, it's now pushing huge rate increases through FEMA's new 'Risk Rating 2.0' that is unsustainable and unaffordable for Florida families. When we increase availability and competition in the market, more homeowners get insured and taxpayers and homeowners are better off. If the private sector can offer families better coverage, better service and a better price, why would we deny them of that? While I was Governor, we reformed Florida's property insurance market to better serve families and we can do it at the federal level too. It's time to make commonsense reforms that better serve Florida families. I am committed to fighting for change that encourages the development of a robust and affordable private flood insurance market and gives homeowners more choice and flexibility when purchasing their flood insurance plans. I know many of my colleagues in the Senate agree with me on this, and I urge them to join me in passing these good bills."

Senator Scott's NFIP reform legislation includes:

* The Removing Barriers to Private Flood Insurance Act to permanently eliminate the NFIP's Write Your Own (WYO) company non-compete clause which currently prohibits WYO companies from selling private flood insurance products that compete with NFIP products;

* The Flood Insurance Consumer Choice Act to amend the NFIP's "Continuous Coverage" requirement and allow NFIP policyholders who leave the program to purchase a private policy to return to the NFIP without penalty; and

* The Flood Insurance Transparency Act to require the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make detailed historic claims, policy and flood risk data available to the public and easily accessible, while protecting personal information as required by law.

Last month, Senator Scott joined Senator Mike Lee to introduce the Flood Insurance Flexibility Act, the No NFIP Subsidies for Millionaires Act and the NFIP Underwater Properties Act to improve the flood insurance marketplace for families across the nation impacted by disasters.