Abstract
This article uses the history and current state of publicly subsidized coastal flood insurance policy in the United States to highlight how perceptions of risk can be influenced by past and current policy practices. For the purposes of this article, public flood insurance premiums are used as a proxy for risk; higher premiums suggest greater risk, while lower premiums suggest lowered risk. By using coastal flood insurance as a proxy for flood risk, subjective factors of risk are highlighted and contextualized. The goal is to provide the reader with an example of the importance of considering both objective and subjective risk factors when developing and implementing climate change policies that make investments today to protect against future harm.