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LETTERS: Tree insurance would cut costs

Editor:
15210186_web1_190121-PAN-M-tree-on-house-file
A South Surrey homeowner says it would make sense for insurance companies to help cover the cost of removing unstable trees, rather than wait for disaster to strike. (File photo)

Editor:

This week my neighbour and I were given a permit to remove an 80-year-old fir, which had uprooted and was leaning dangerously toward my home of 45 years.

We hired an arborist and when the estimate came in between $5,000 and $7000, I wondered if there was a pre-emptive insurance policy that would share the fee in removing the tree.

It seems the insurance company will only pay after the tree comes down and causes huge, costly and tragic damage. I would call that not thinking ahead.

As a community health nurse, I gave immunizations to prevent a myriad of diseases. This, in turn, kept them from entering the hospital with preventable diseases. The immunizations are a lot less costly, less painful and less upsetting than a stay in the hospital.

I wonder why underwriters haven’t figured out a way to cut their costs by cutting trees before the timber tumbles.

Sally Stewart, Surrey