Congress has extended the National Flood Insurance Program until Nov. 1, but the problems that have caused its debt to approach $25 billion are no closer to being solved. Critics of NFIP insist it encourages people to build and live in flood-prone areas who continue to rebuild from one storm after another.

The flood insurance program was created in 1968 and marked its 50th anniversary earlier this year. The impetus was the major damage caused by Hurricane Betsy in 1965 that primarily affected areas of Louisiana and Florida.

U.S. News and World Report in July said some 5 million properties are insured by the NFIP with owners often paying premiums well below market values. The program’s annual shortfall is $1.4 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

More than 30,000 properties insured under the program have been designated “severe repetitive loss properties,” U.S. News said. The report said those properties account for just 0.6 percent the properties insured but 9.6 percent of claims paid out between 1978 and 2015 that totaled $5.5 billion.

Bringing premiums in line with risk is one solution, the report said, but that has met serious opposition, particularly from members of Congress representing Louisiana and other flood-prone areas. Another solution is for the government to offer property owners buyouts, which would help them move away from high-risk areas, not a popular solution either.

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said there are nearly 500,000 policyholders in Louisiana. He said there is a need to expand coverage and make it more affordable, cap annual premium increases and give local officials more authority in the program.

Actually, premiums in many areas are affordable but property owners, many in hard-hit states like Louisiana, don’t buy coverage until they become hurricane victims. Getting more of them into the program in all flood-prone states would be one way to keep premiums affordable.

Other state congressmen working on solutions are Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, and U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge. That is a powerful lineup that can protect Louisiana’s interests, but they face serious opposition from members of Congress from areas that want higher rates.

Getting both groups to compromise in the current Washington, D.C., atmosphere won’t be easy.