no, there was no choice. insurance companies were offered the choice to insure high-risk properties at rates with premiums that were too low for the assessed risk. risk was assessed by professional actuaries at insurance companies like state farm with $kin in the game, and saw that california was failing to take appropriate preventative measures and mitigate risk and in fact sued people who tried to do it on their own. so they would have to charge high premiums to reasonably insure against disaster. california required they collect lower premiums. instead of agreeing to the foolish deal, state farm refused to even offer coverage to people living there. their only option was the socialist scam program where the government takes their money but can't afford to pay out for a serious disaster. so it's like having no coverage, but you have to pay for it anyway.
United States