The insured funds limits on FDIC and NCUA insured institutions will remain at $250,000 until the end of 2013 due to President Obama signing the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. It was set to expire at the end of 2009 but has been extended. I’m not really sure why they didn’t just make the increase permanent but hopefully when it comes time to renew the limit they do end up making it a permanent change.
The FDIC is in charge of insuring banks within their organization and the NCUA is in charge of credit unions. You should note that it is possible to get over $250,000 of insured funds at one financial institution. For example you can have a personal account and a joint account with your spouse. You should ask your bank representative for details as they know all of the ways to get the maximum amount of insured funds from one institution.
As I see it there would have been no harm in making the limit permanent. If not many banks are failing, then it won’t really matter that the rate is higher, and if a lot of banks are failing, that’s exactly the time you want the insured limits to be higher, so it’s pretty much a no-brainer to me, but an extension is better than nothing I suppose.