Where you live depends somewhat on what attitudes you hold toward insurance issues, according to a new study.
A study published this week by the Insurance Research Council revealed that half of residents of coastal counties feel that policyholder and government subsidies for wind damage are unfair. But 63 percent of resident from noncoastal counties and interior states hold that view.
In like manner, 51 percent found subsidies for flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program to be unfair compared to 59 percent from interior counties and 61 percent from noncoastal areas.
The survey comes as industry executives and federal and state lawmakers attempt some sort of national solution to spread the risk of mega-catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina that struck New Orleans last year.
One argument against a proposed federal reinsurance fund to help mitigate that kind of risk has been that it will subsidize people who want to live in catastrophe-prone areas.
In other areas, the study shows that although the public in all regions supports mitigation strategies, support is strongest among those living in coastal counties
For example, more than eight in 10 respondents favored government action to preserve and build wetlands in coastal areas. Among those living in a coastal county, 56 percent strongly favored such action compared to 45 percent from interior counties of coastal states, and 38 percent in noncoastal states.
While almost 90 percent of all respondents favor building codes for new homes, 76 percent of residents favor them even if they added 6 percent to the cost of building a new home while the same figure for interior counties and non-coastal states was 71 percent and 62 percent respectively.
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