> Hurricane Helene crashed into an insurance sector facing a series of potentially existential questions, and a policy landscape in which the United States has left key decisions about how communities prepare for and recover from disasters in the hands of companies that exist to turn a profit—not provide protection. “Right now, we’re essentially leaving all of these decisions about land use and where risk mitigation happens up to insurance companies,” says Moira Birss, a longtime organizer and fellow at the Climate & Community Institute.
Insurance companies are probably the entity best incentivized and infotmed to make decisions about where to build houses and what risk mitigation to do.
Insurance companies are probably the entity best incentivized and infotmed to make decisions about where to build houses and what risk mitigation to do.