Caution

Len links to a cautionary warning about the legal and insurance nightmares to come with the Katrian cleanup. The top Federal people were carefully calling the New Orleans disaster "two separate events, a hurricane and a flood" in the immediate aftermath. It sounded to my ear like lawyerball and rather inappropriate to disaster recovery at that moment. Turns out those folks in Washington were already thinking ahead.

It amazes me how ordinary people think insurance is supposed to protect them. Insurance companies are not in business to help you, but to make profits for their owners. You do that by not making payouts on policies! You do that by finding every loophole you can in the policies the insurance companies wrote and ruthlessly exploiting them.

It's why I finally started to wear seat belts. When I owned a car, I didn't care. It was my car and usually a cheap one. But when I began to rent cars, I suddenly turned hypervigilant about following the law. Why? Because if I had an accident in a rental car, but I broke any law whatsoever during that accident no matter how innocently, I would be stuck with the bills. The insurance company would use my law-breaking ("You weren't wearing your seat belt? Then we aren't responsible for your injuries.") as an excuse to dodge payment.

It's also why states have mandatory insurance laws. They got tired of drivers with no insurance costing them money.

It's all a scam designed to protect profits. Period.