In 1968, the United States Congress passed the National Flood Insurance Act which created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Nearly 30 years later, the NFIP has become entrenched in the United States as the major institutional vehicle through which nonstructural floodplain management is accomplished in the country. The paper reviews the rationale behind creation of the NFIP, describes the purposes of the program and how it operates in some 18,000 communities, highlights issues of concern about the program that impact its effectiveness, and recommends research that would result in information that could improve the NFIP's ability to reduce vulnerability to flood damages.