The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance,
and Government Sponsored Enterprises, heard testimony today from
industry advocates to discuss the need for public and private sectors to
work together to develop market-based solutions to the problem of
providing natural catastrophe insurance coverage to homeowners and
businesses across the nation.
Congress can play a constructive role in
assisting the private market to ensure that the nation's homeowners and
insurers are prepared for the next major natural catastrophe, said Chuck
Chamness, president/CEO of the National Association of Mutual Insurance
Companies (NAMIC), to the Subcommittee at its hearing on "Stablizing
Insurance Markets for Coastal Consumers."
The havoc wreaked by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes has raised
important questions about how Americans should prepare for and respond
to natural disasters in the future. The likelihood of more frequent and
severe natural disasters in the near term, combined with the continuing
population growth and development in areas vulnerable to natural
disasters, pose significant challenges for government policymakers,
insurers, realtors, home builders, mortgage lenders and property owners.
