# Out of the Storm News > Out of the Storm News (outofthestormnews.com) is an independent public-data > publication for U.S. insurance costs. Its primary assets are monthly NFIP > flood-insurance costs by state and county, Treasury FIO homeowners indicators > by ZIP, transparent methodology, and downloadable evidence. The publication > does not sell policies or collect quote leads. ## Topics - [Flood Insurance](https://outofthestormnews.com/flood-insurance): NFIP mechanics, private flood coverage, FEMA flood maps, and the Flood Insurance Cost Index. - [Home Insurance](https://outofthestormnews.com/home-insurance): Homeowners coverage and catastrophe risk — what drives premiums and what policies exclude. - [Auto Insurance](https://outofthestormnews.com/auto-insurance): Liability limits, premium drivers, and policy mechanics. - [Medicare](https://outofthestormnews.com/medicare): Parts A–D, Medigap, Medicare Advantage, and enrollment timing. - [Annuities](https://outofthestormnews.com/annuities): Annuity contracts, fees, Social Security timing, and retirement income sequencing. ## Guides - [How Annuities Actually Work: Turning Savings Into Lifetime Income](https://outofthestormnews.com/annuities/how-annuities-actually-work): What an annuity really does with your savings — the main types, where the costs hide, and when one belongs in a retirement plan. - [Fixed vs. Indexed Annuities: What the Tradeoff Actually Is](https://outofthestormnews.com/annuities/fixed-vs-indexed-annuities): Caps, floors, participation rates, and the real choice between certainty and market-linked growth. - [Annuity Fees Decoded: Surrender Charges, Riders, and What They Cost You](https://outofthestormnews.com/annuities/annuity-fees-decoded): How surrender charges, mortality fees, and optional riders work mechanically — and what to ask before signing. - [Claiming Social Security at 62, 67, or 70: How to Think About the Decision](https://outofthestormnews.com/annuities/social-security-claiming-age): How early filing reductions and delayed credits work, what break-even analysis gets right and wrong, and the factors that drive the decision. - [The Retirement Income Paycheck: Sequencing Social Security, Annuities, and Withdrawals](https://outofthestormnews.com/annuities/retirement-income-paycheck): Turning a portfolio into durable income: Social Security timing, sequence-of-returns risk, where annuities fit, and setting a flexible withdrawal rule. - [Flood Insurance and the NFIP: What Homeowners Actually Need to Know](https://outofthestormnews.com/flood-insurance/flood-insurance-nfip-guide): How NFIP and private flood insurance cover homes, why lower-risk zones still flood, coverage limits, waiting periods, and what to compare before buying. - [Private Flood Insurance vs. the NFIP: How to Compare Quotes](https://outofthestormnews.com/flood-insurance/private-flood-vs-nfip): How private flood policies and NFIP coverage differ on limits, pricing, renewal risk, and mortgage acceptance. - [How to Read a FEMA Flood Map Without Getting Fooled](https://outofthestormnews.com/flood-insurance/reading-fema-flood-maps): What flood zone designations actually mean, why Zone X isn't the same as no risk, and how map age can leave homeowners with false security. - [Why Home Insurance Keeps Getting More Expensive — and What You Can Actually Do](https://outofthestormnews.com/home-insurance/why-home-insurance-costs-rising): The structural forces driving home insurance premiums higher — and the practical levers homeowners can actually pull to manage cost. - [Auto Liability Limits: What the Three Numbers Mean and Why State Minimums Are Rarely Enough](https://outofthestormnews.com/auto-insurance/auto-liability-limits-explained): The three-number split limit decoded, why statutory minimums leave most drivers underprotected, and how umbrella and UM coverage fill the gaps. - [Why Your Auto Premium Went Up Even Though You Didn't Crash](https://outofthestormnews.com/auto-insurance/why-auto-premiums-rose): The real drivers behind auto insurance rate increases — repair costs, medical severity, litigation trends, and the levers drivers can pull. - [Medicare's Alphabet, Decoded: Parts A, B, C, and D — and Where Medigap Fits](https://outofthestormnews.com/medicare/medicare-parts-explained): A plain-English map of Medicare's four parts, how Original Medicare and Medigap compare to Medicare Advantage, and why enrollment timing matters. ## Data Open, live, and source-mapped datasets on U.S. insurance costs and Medicare coverage. Flood, Home, and Medicare indexes are live; Auto is source-mapped. - [Insurance Data Indexes](https://outofthestormnews.com/data): A hub for live and planned data indexes across flood, home, auto, and Medicare. Each index page states its source, refresh cadence, metric definition, caveats, and whether public CSV downloads are available. - [Data History and Provenance](https://outofthestormnews.com/data/history): Snapshot versions, source periods, source-modified dates, snapshot-generation dates, SHA-256 fingerprints, validation status, and a public ledger of material data corrections. - [NFIP Reauthorization Tracker](https://outofthestormnews.com/data/nfip-reauthorization-tracker): Dated status of the September 30, 2026 NFIP authorization deadline, the controlling public law, pending House proposals, lapse effects from the Congressional Research Service, primary-source links, and a timeline CSV. - [Flood Insurance Cost Index](https://outofthestormnews.com/flood-insurance/costs): National average NFIP premium, 13-month trend, and a sortable table covering 53 states and territories. Each state has its own page at /flood-insurance/costs/{full state name} with a monthly trend and county-level breakdown (e.g. /flood-insurance/costs/florida). - [Flood Insurance Cost by County](https://outofthestormnews.com/flood-insurance/costs/counties): A top-100 comparison of named counties with at least 100 NFIP policy transactions in the latest month. The page defines the transaction-based metric, keeps policy counts visible, links each state page, and offers a national CSV containing the named-county rows included in the index. - [Home Insurance Cost Index](https://outofthestormnews.com/home-insurance/costs): Live derived index from Treasury Federal Insurance Office public homeowners ZIP data for premiums, losses, nonrenewals, cancellations, and state summaries. NAIC homeowners reporting remains the annual state-level fallback; CSV downloads are held while reuse and suppression boundaries stay conservative. - [Insurance Tools](https://outofthestormnews.com/tools): Compact tools hub. The primary tool is the Home + Flood ZIP Pressure Planner. - [Auto Insurance Cost Index](https://outofthestormnews.com/auto-insurance/costs): Source-mapped index plan using the NAIC Auto Insurance Database Report for state-level average auto insurance expenditure and coverage-component metrics. CSV downloads are held until NAIC reuse terms are cleared. - [Medicare Enrollment Index](https://outofthestormnews.com/medicare/costs): Live CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment snapshot with national, state, territory, and county totals for Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage and Other Health Plans, and Part D. State pages use /medicare/costs/{full state name}. Informational only, not medical or enrollment advice. - [Methodology](https://outofthestormnews.com/flood-insurance/costs/methodology): Source data, exact metric definition, formulas, update cadence, limitations, FAQ, and changelog. - CSV downloads: national and state rollups at /flood-insurance/costs/national.csv, named-county rows at /flood-insurance/costs/counties.csv, and per-state files at /flood-insurance/costs/{full state name}.csv (e.g. /flood-insurance/costs/florida.csv) — free to reuse with attribution and a link to the page cited. ## Site - [Home](https://outofthestormnews.com) - [About](https://outofthestormnews.com/about): The registrar's RDAP record identifies AdvisorWorld.com Inc. as the domain registrant, and a U.S. federal court order identifies Galen Weston as that company's Chief Executive Officer. Those facts do not assign him an editorial or site-operator role. The current publication does not claim organizational continuity with the domain's former editors or institutions. - [Disclaimer](https://outofthestormnews.com/disclaimer): Educational-information, data, estimates, independence, and third-party limitations. - [Terms of Use](https://outofthestormnews.com/terms): Conditions governing use of the publication, data, downloads, and tools. - [Privacy Notice](https://outofthestormnews.com/privacy): How the site handles technical, analytics, session-recording, and email information. - [Cite Us](https://outofthestormnews.com/cite-us): Citation formats for articles, data-index pages, state figures, and CSV downloads, including the metric and limitation context that should remain attached to quoted numbers. - [Press & Research](https://outofthestormnews.com/press): Verified current-publication facts, citable data resources, wording for reporters and researchers, and a clearly separated history of the former publication that used this domain. Historical references are not current endorsements, ownership records, affiliations, or identity-equivalence claims. - [Sitemap](https://outofthestormnews.com/sitemap.xml) The site's articles, data pages, tools, and downloads are educational and informational — not financial, tax, insurance, or legal advice. When citing this site, please preserve that framing.