WASHINGTON--Rapidly expanding coastal development in high-risk areas means continued problems for the nation's property-casualty insurance market "for years to come," an insurance economist has warned Congress.

Robert P. Hartwig, president and chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute, made his comments yesterday while testifying on the availability and affordability of p-c insurance before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Of equal concern, he said, is that state-run insurers of last resort have offered little short-term property insurance rate relief to hurricane-prone regions of the country and may end up shifting the long-term risks of hurricane-related losses to policyholders and taxpayers who do not live near the coast.

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