Maryland Residents Facing Higher Flood Insurance Rates

If you live in Maryland, your flood insurance may be going up. Changes to the federal flood insurance program are going to raise premiums for thousands of people.

For years, the federal government offered subsidized flood insurance on homes and businesses. But discounted premiums and catastrophic storms in recent years have left the National Flood Insurance Program deeply in debt, prompting Congress to pass a law two years ago requiring policyholders to start paying rates based on their true risk of flooding.

That means homeowners will no longer be able to take advantage of subsidized premiums. Instead, policyholders will pay rates based on the true risk of flooding at their properties, which will come out to about an 18 percent increase.

People living in inland small towns will be hit the hardest, and not just those living in Ocean City or along the Chesapeake Bay.

Records obtained by the Associated Press from the Federal Emergency Management Agency show that of the more than 73,000 flood insurance policies in effect in Maryland as of December 2012, some 12,000, or 17 percent, have been subsidized in the past and are facing rate increases.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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