Thread by @scottsantens

Here's the fun bureaucracy I've experienced so far as an Ida evacuee:

1. Denied by FEMA for unknown reasons.

2. Denied coverage by my insurance because my evac from New Orleans wasn't officially mandatory.

3. Told that my insurance denial can be used to appeal FEMA's denial.

Anti-govt libertarians and conservatives love insurance as the solution to government safety nets, but in my experience, they never pay out. They always find an excuse. In this case, their excuse is that even though my city doesn't want me to return yet, it didn't mandate evac.

My insurance policy is supposed to provide $2,000 to help with hotel fees in this situation, but their legal loophole is that leaving was voluntary, but the thing is, mandatory evac wasn't an option, it was too late, so they just urged us all to leave.

nola.com/news/hurricane…

So even though I did everything right, I've paid for renter's insurance for years, and left when I was urged to leave, my insurance company gets to keep my money, and now they want me to get public money. Isn't that a great way to increase their profit margins?

Meanwhile, those who believe in govt tend to overlook just how ridiculous all the bureaucracy is in getting any kind of assistance at all. The hoops people are forced to jump through exist to minimize recipients in the same way insurance companies refuse to pay out to save money.

Annie Lowrey just wrote about this recently that I highly recommend reading if you missed it. She calls it the Time Tax and it exists to punish people and reduce the number of beneficiaries and what they receive.

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

So if private insurers refuse to pay claimants, and the government refuses to pay claimants, then first, what's left? And second, what's the point of paying insurance premiums or defending public safety nets if these things aren't actually there for us when we finally need them?

Universal basic income shouldn't replace things like renter's insurance and FEMA assistance, but I want to again stress that #UBI recognizes people fall right through everything designed to help in case of emergencies all the time. It's a true emergency floor. It's always there.