Fearing Hurricanes, Insurance Cos cancel homeowner policies
It is 1,200 miles from the coastline where Hurricane Katrina touched land two years ago to the neat colonial-style home here where James Gray, a retired public relations consultant, and his wife, Ann, live. But this summer, Katrina reached them, too, in the form of a cancellation letter from their home-insurance company.
This just grinds me! These homeowners have been paying their for their policies and are being dumped by insurance companies who feel like paying for damages is bad for their bottom line. Too risky!
Actually, I see this as a good thing. Plenty of Global Climate Change naysayers more interested in how their ExxonMobile stock performs than the future of the planet own beachfront property. Maybe this will be the wakeup call they need to understand that GCC affects the bottom line in more ways than one.
Dear John and Jane Republican,
Remember how free trade is a good thing? Remember how profit is the ultimate good, no matter who gets hurt? Remember those things when your homeowner's policy on your beachfront estate is canceled.
So climate change is a good thing? So it's wonderful that the Northeast Passage may be open to shipping due to polar ice melt? Enjoy repairing hurricane damage on your own dime.
Sincerely,
Next to be Canceled
Ok, now that I've got that out of my system, it still pisses me off that greedy insurance companies are willing to cut loose policy holders because of fear of hurricanes. It's not just the wealthy who will be affected, but business owners and people of all income levels who live in oceanside communities. They're out years of payments with nothing to show for it. And it will be difficult (if not impossible) to find affordable insurance now that AllState and other major insurers have canceled.
Edited to add:
Betty Clark, a retired waitress living on a fixed income in a modest house where she raised her children in Eastham, Mass., on Cape Cod, said she had no idea how the tussle between insurance companies and public officials would play out. But after years of paying $742 a year, her home insurance doubled last year, to $1,440, which she would not be able to afford if not for some help from her children.
"I’ve never made a claim in all these years," she said by telephone. "And yet, here it’s possible I’ll lose my home," she said.
And not to a hurricane, she added.
Blood = boiling.