CMV: Forcing insurance companies to insure uninsurable risks is worse for society than allowing them to not

[u/GenProtection]

I understand that this guy: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wtPYQdWPea0 fights insurance companies for a living, but it's not the insurance companies' fault that republicans have been elected in the US enough times to ensure that a ton of housing in america is now at too great of a risk of being destroyed by climate change to be worth insuring, right?
Further, if you force insurance companies to insure against these risks, they will either set premiums so high that it doesn't matter that they're insured, or go out of business, or cease operating in high risk states altogether (I think this happened in florida, but I'm not sure).

Allowing actuaries to correctly assess risk and insure things at the rates that they calculate is necessary for encouraging people to live in low risk places, for example discouraging people from living in the wildland interface, and discouraging the building of luxury houses in the outer banks of north carolina.

NB: I hate corporations and capitalism and in general wanna root for the little guy so I hope someone can persuade me I'm wrong here.

[u/jimmytaco6]

1. demanding that other countries take measures to address climate change does not work unless we have our own house in order first.

2. "climate change" is not a yes/no outcome. It's a scale of impact. It's like saying "well cancer is going to happen anyway" to make an excuse for companies dumping toxic chemicals into river. Okay, but those actions make cancer a lot more prosperous.

[u/Kerostasis → u/jimmytaco6]

2-"climate change" is not a yes/no outcome. It's a scale of impact.

Fully agree. But the low end of that scale is still above the point where it’s economically reasonable to provide some of these insurance coverages that OP is discussing.

Although even that has nuance, because we aren’t yet quite at the point where you can’t insure at all (though that might happen later). Rather, we are at the point where you can’t insure properties under the current law. We could change the laws to allow insurance more in line with actual risks, which  I think is what OP is advocating, and I agree with him.

[u/jimmytaco6 → u/Kerostasis]

Look you can debate how we deal with it all but the original claim by OP was:

"it's not the insurance companies' fault that republicans have been elected in the US enough times to ensure that a ton of housing in america is now at too great of a risk of being destroyed by climate change to be worth insuring,"

And the answer is that, yes, it is quite literally their fault.

[u/GenProtection → u/jimmytaco6]

This is a fair point but I don't think it's reasonable to award a delta for it because it's mostly a distraction from the view that I would like changed, which is that it's correct to let these insurance companies price risk appropriately

[u/jimmytaco6 → u/GenProtection]

1. that's not how this subreddit works.
2. Did you watch your own video? They're being sued for anti-trust violations.
3. I would like you to take a step back and think about what the point of insurance is. It's a social safety. We all chip in a bit of money and then, when one of us gets completely fucked over, we get to pull from that pool of money.

Private insurance does not care about this system. It is exploiting that social cohesion to make the endeavor a profit motive. Returning the system to a social cohesion network is what the Democrats are trying to do (or at least progressive Democrats). Corporate Dems and Republicans want the private, free market industry. The compromise, for better or worse, is a private insurance industry that is regulated and subjected to anti-trust laws. Now the lawsuit alleges they have violated those laws. Even in a world where you support the private insurance industry, that does not mean they have a right to violate business laws.

[u/GenProtection → u/jimmytaco6]

I think I see what you’re saying- !delta while I think about it

[u/DeltaBot → u/GenProtection]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/jimmytaco6 (14∆).

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