I have long since come to terms with the fact that I am a nerd. Politics, sports, and insurance fascinate me to no end. Thus, I spend a good bit of time reading articles and searching the internet for information about these three subjects. However, since my fantasy football team lost in the first round of the playoffs and the midterm elections have passed, I am stuck nerding out on insurance. During a recent session I came across an article on the propertycasualty360.com site – “Some of New York’s poorest residents can’t get flood insurance, and there’s little anyone can do about it.”

If you blacked out the New York geographical references and the names of the local politicians, this article could be mistaken for one that would appear in the Miami Herald or Palm Beach Post. Consumers want insurance, insurance companies don’t want to write coverage due to the particular risk, disaster happens and consumers are hurt; politicians get involved after the fact, insurance representatives insist that the “market” will take care of the problem and that there is no need for the politicians to do anything…blah, blah, blah. You get the point.

It doesn’t matter if we are talking about California, Texas, Florida, New York – even if the places and individuals change, the underlying storyline does not. Don’t wait until after the fact to protect insurance consumers – make sure the playing field is level now before the disaster. Public policy is always better when approached in a proactive manner and not a reactive one.