" Nellie, I think like the Editor, if you want to live on the Beach, coast, or river bottom you can, but, it's not my obligation to help pay your insurance. The coast is subject to flood at anytime because of a natural event, so you should have had flood insurance paid by you, not me!
Also all these Gieco ads about undercutting all other insurance cos. What do you actually have with the cheapest policy? Does it cover like State Farm? "

" The problem I have with the whole argument of "living in hurricane alley" is something a person should be able to "afford" versus living further inland is this...where do you draw the line? Today, it's flood/wind insurance for coastal residents. Tomorrow, some insurance company may determine that you shouldn't live in "tornado alley" unless you can "afford" it. So all the people living in the Southeast and Midwest (and parts of the Great Plains States and Texas) should all move...but to where?

Then, you can apply that same logic to all the areas around the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri Rivers that flood on occassion (lately "occassion" has turned into "regularly").

Let's not forget about the earthquake zone we call California (but that "zone" actually extends along the entire West Coast), or the New Madrid Fault Line (which would include St. Louis and Memphis--and a large swath of Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, North Mississippi, and a few other states).

The Volcanic "Zone" of the West Coast is also a concern. There are quite a number of volcanos along the West Coast, many of them active (though thankfully they haven't decided to erupt lately--one day our luck is going to run out). And I'd be remiss to leave out all the landslides and wildfires that go on out there (and incidently California doesn't have the exclusive market on wildfires).

So where is everyone suppose to go? Where in the world do disasters NOT strike?

The insurance company is in the business of gambling (it's just not called that). They got burned by Katrina and Rita...but they made MILLIONS and MILLIONS off of customers in the years prior to those hurricanes and they do the same thing everywhere else in America everyday.

To argue that people shouldn't live somewhere because of natural events and the effect those events have on the insurance companies is a slippery slope that can be used by insurance companies to continue increasing their premiums beyond the stratosphere... "

" As someone who just moved away from the MS Gulf Coast, perhaps you should do a little more research into a subject before you make comments on it. We lived in a non-flood zone area of the coast and received over 8 feet of water. Since we did not live in a flood zone, we did not have flood insurance. We did have wind & hail insurance from the state wind pool insurance. This is also a government backed insurance policy. So my question is what is the difference if this policy is stand-alone or is wrapped in with the another government backed policy? It is still a government backed policy. Check this out!!!! "