Wk, a lot of companies are pulling out of high risk markets because the states will not allow them to charge appropriate premiums for the risk.  State Farm has stopped selling any Homeowner policies in FL for that very reason.

Goat, there has got to be more to the story than that.  I wish I knew more of the facts.  I might be able to explain.

Elitist beat me to it.  National Flood Insurance Program is run by the federal govt. 

Krieger, Canada's healthcare system is highly regarded by whom?  No one I know, and I know a few Canucks, likes it partly because of the long wait for pretty much everything past an office visit and also because they do employ the "death panel" model when determining "eligibility" for a treatment.

I appreciate it but dont plant it in my honor I havent earned it.  Plant it for my great uncle who is buried in Maastricht. He was a Paratrooper in Operation Market Garden.  Memorial day is for the dead but not a bad time to remember my dad, my uncles(X3) and countless cousins and my sisters who served. I will never forget the Memorial day we took my grandather to his brother's grave.

I have the utmost respect for everyone who has posted on this thread.  Hart, I can't speak to your specific situation and my heart goes out to you.  I had a team working for FEMA in Lake Charles and New Orleans after Katrina.  I saw that mess.  My house was hit by Ike in Houston a few years later.  I can tell you from experience with sevral insurance companies State Farm pays out the best.  KOFC doesnt do any property insurance but has an impeccable record on paying their claims. Again, sorry it was a bad experience.

Some misunderstand the purpose of insurance.  It is protection against the unknown.  Say you are a young man, married for five years with three children.  It is not likely you could have saved enough to protect your family from a catastrophe. That is why you need insurance.  Later in life, after you have diligently saved, you will have less need for insurance.  It is part art and part math. 

Most Agents I know are in it for the right reason.  They aren't as well compensated as some think.  While we do need some regulation to protect policy holders, the bigger problems come from our own government "looking out for us"

I have the utmost respect for everyone who has posted on this thread.  Hart, I can't speak to your specific situation and my heart goes out to you.  I had a team working fo FEMA in Lake Charles and New Orleans after Katrina.  I saw that mess.  My house was hit by Ike in Houston a few years later.  I can tell you from experience with sevral insurance companies State Farm pays out the best.  KOFC doesnt do any property insurance but has an impeccable record on paying their claims. Again, sorry it was a bad experience.

Some misunderstand the purpose of insurance.  It is protection against the unknown.  Say you are a young man, married for five years with three children.  It is not likely you could have saved enough to protect your family from a catastrophe. That is why you need insurance.  Later in life, after you have diligently saved, you will have less need for insurance.  It is part art and part math. 

Most Agents I know are in it for the right reason.  They aren't as well compensated as some think.  While we do need some regulation to protect policy holders, the bigger problems come from our own government "looking out for us"

I know what it is like to be poor.  There was a time in my life when I had to choose between eating and putting gas in the car to get to work so I could eat two days later when I got paid.  That went on for quite a while until I got a second job and got promoted at my first job.  Slept on a hand me down couch, no TV in a ghetto with whores and crack dealers in the same building.  Don't preach at me about poverty.  That neighborhood was so bad the city condemned 10 square blocks and razed the whole area.  It took years to climb out of that financial rut but I did.  I don't have any particular gift.  Just a lot of hard work and a desire never to go hungry again or have my family live like I did. 16 years later I was able to quit work entirely and return to college.  I earned 69 credits in 15 months and began my Insurance career.  Anyone who wants to, can.  There are raw deals in life no doubt about it and I am not blind to how hard poverty can be to escape.  There were many times I thought about eating a bullet.  Seemed hopeless to try any more.  Things changed for me when I came back to the Church.  I didn't get rich overnight but I never felt the despair again.

In the unlikely event some turd got the drop on my and I were paralyzed, yes my family would be fine.  My long term care policy will cover up to $250 per day for assisted care either in home or in a facility and it carries an inflation rider for life. My Disability income insurance would replace 60% of my income to age 65 or pay to train me for another job if I am able to work.  My health insurance takes care of the medical.  Most of my life insurance is whole life limited pay.  Right now the dividends are high enough to pay the premiums and they all have cash value that will continue to grow and can be tapped if needed.  They will all be completely paid for by age 65.

So in answer to your somewhat sarcastic question, yes.  I was fortunate enough to recieve and take some really good advice when I was young.

That picture is a tear jerker but I suspect a hoax.   What is the source?

And I never said we shouldn't have a safety net for the poorest among, we already had it.  ACA is a mess and every one knows it.  The idiots who passed it have too much invested in it to admit what every already knows.

As for caring, how dare you question my motives or sincerity?  I have been a member of the Knights of Columbus for 23 years.  In case you don't know, the KOFC is a non profit charitable organization founded 132 years ago for the sole purpose of providing life insurance to the poorest among us.  We make over 30 million Dollars in donations annually on top of the payout on the insurance products.  I do what I do because I care about people.  The very first call I took was from a father asking if his policy included a death benefit for his kids because his three hour old baby girl had just died and he needed to bury her.  He mentioned he was out of work and his wife was still in the hospital.  So after I got done crying. I made all the funeral arrangements, including buying a plot, took him and his wife dinner and then went to his house and fed his kids and stayed with them until his brother could get there,  And by the way, I had never met the man.  How much do you think I got paid to do all that?  Not a dime.  Good agents care, I care.

Fyrd, the Cathedral of the Plains.  My parents were married there as was my sister and countless aunts, uncles, and cousins.  My Grandmother lived two blocks away on Vine St.  Very few people know the history of the Volga Deutsch.  There is an old saying in Victoria. "Everey one is welcome in Victoria,  you are just more welcome if you are German and Catholic".

Plant a flag for me.  Have a great memorial day.

Fyrd, the Cathedral of the Plains.  My parents were married there as was my sister and countless aunts, uncles, and cousins.  My Grandmother lived two blocks away on Vine St.  Very few people know the history of the Volga Deutsch.  There is an old saying in Victoria. "Everey one is welcome in Victoria,  you are just more welcome if you are German and Catholic".

Plant a flag for me.  Have a great memorial day.