Two of the candidates for president in this week’s Florida primary say they support some form of national insurance backstop that would respond to natural disasters. Both former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney expressed their support for the idea during last Thursday’s GOP debate in Boca Raton.

While supporting what he called a “national catastrophic effort to make sure that people can get homeowner's insurance,” Gov. Romney said that he opposed having “people in Iowa” subsidizing homeowners in Massachusetts or Florida. But, he added, states in high-risk areas have to consider how they will “organize an effort on a national basis” that deals with the different risks that different states face and “make sure that we have a backstop” behind private insurers.

Giuliani had announced his support for such a backstop a few weeks ago. Gov. Romney’s endorsement of the idea came after Giuliani asked him his position on the matter during the televised debate.

January 29, 2008