2024-11-13
9 分钟Major flooding events are increasingly common across the U.S., but homeowners looking for flood insurance will find few choices. The main providers of flood insurance is the U.S. government through the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP. But even though the NFIP is one of the only flood insurance games in town, it's drowning in debt. On today's episode, the NFIP's struggle to stay afloat. Related listening: Hazard maps: The curse of knowledge (Apple / Spotify) When insurers can't get insurance Flood money For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
This is the indicator from Planet Money.
I'm Paddy Hirsch.
And I'm Waylon Wong.
We've been hearing a lot about flooding in the news lately.
Catastrophic floods in Spain and closer to home this week, tropical storms and heavy rains are soaking Louisiana, Southeast Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
Insurance isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you're anticipating a flood.
But American homeowners who do check their home insurance policies will almost certainly find that they are not covered.
That's because most insurers in the US do not cover flood.
In fact, pretty much the only place you can get flood coverage is from the government through the nfip, the National Flood Insurance Program.
Because it's basically the only game in town, you would think the NFIP would be going gangbusters, but the program is not doing well.
The NFIP frequently runs out of money and has to ask Congress for a loan.
The result is that the American taxpayer is increasingly on the hook for payments to flooded homeowners.
On today's show, we'll find out why that is and learn why the National Flood Insurance Program is struggling.
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Whatever your financial goals are, you want a straightforward path there.
But the real world doesn't usually work that way.