Established in 1968, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is for homeowners who live in flood-prone areas that are considered too great a risk for private insurers.

The program was able to support itself through premiums and fees until 2005, but in blew Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the program was flooded with claims and it’s now drowning in debt.

$19 *billion* dollars in debt in fact, and the program doesn’t bring in enough in premiums to cover all of the risk and claims. Homeowners also pay below market rates for the insurance.

” For most properties, premiums would probably have to be about twice as high as they are today to even help the program get anywhere near to breaking even, said Mark Calabriais, Director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC.

” Even getting the rates to be “fair” doesn’t get anywhere near to paying the deficit. “