We went through horrific situtations like that a few years back in San Diego, CA with the wild fires. Many people were under insured and haven't been able to rebuild after losing their entire homes. :-(

Wow! I will be checking my policy too, I do have flood insurance, and new for old policies but will check I have enough value! Hugs Sally

It's a really tricky one, Irene, and having worked for an insurer I can also see the other side. Some areas are hit by floods year after year and people buy blocks on which to build that are likely to be inundated frequently, or live in houses that are in fault lines like in San Francisco etc. Or with the fires, they might decide they want to live in the middle of the bush with no good access roads once the main one is blocked by fire. With Health Insurance, often people don't want to pay for it when they are young and healthy, but then want to take it out and be instantly covered when they either plan to become pregnant or get older and think they might need to use it. Kids and orthodontia is another one. Not sure how many caravan parks have been totally washed out more than once when they so often are perched on the side of a river. Then there are the crooks who try to get away with claiming for things that haven't even happened and those who do get away with it push premiums up for the rest of us, just like shoplifting does affect the cost of our goods. So I can see both sides of the coin and someone is always going to be unhappy. As you say though, the best advice is to check one's policy and ask lots of questions about what you want to be covered for, before you pay any money for insurance. It's such a huge cost we need to find money for these days and with the growing incidences of people suing for something like getting hurt while breaking and entering, how can any of us win? (I'll get off my soapbox too and meet you in the kitchen for a coffee!).

I don't have flood insurance but if I get flooded where I am the rest of city doesn't have a chance.
I do have earthquake insurance though as an add on to my home owners ins. which is a good thing as we have small tremors in AR quite frequently. Not looking forward to a biggie either.

We are with APIA,(Australian Pensioners ) the house & content policies ,the insured value goes up each year .House value is worked out by its size & what it is constucted of ,times what it costs to build it at todays prices.Contents goes up to, I don't know how they work it out .We have had to make a few small claims over the years & the cheque has arrived within the week.If we ever had to claim for flood or bushfire damage, extreme climate change event would have occurred

HI Irene, do you mind my asking who did you insure with?
We could get coverage for flood, but because we are zoned 1 in a 100 flood, it was going to cost a hefty $3,500 p.a.!!!!

Can you imagine trying to pay that on retirement benefits???

Hugs n roses, Meganne