Looks to me like the politicians think they know more than anyone else. I suspect when able to do so, most of the companies doing business in Florida will call it quits and the state can insure maybe 80% of the business written with Citizens. What attraction has Florida put out to bring new companies in? I guess the state needs to limit cancellations as they realize they just passed a real bad law and many companies will want no part of the changes.
Florida already has no attraction to any private insurers, and Citizens is already the largest insurer by a very wide margin.
Foreclosures are up due to escrow, (My mortgage went up $500 a month due to insurance this year, I\’m going to be struggling to not be in that list) mortgage companies can\’t \’force\’ place, and every insurer already limits if not completely rejects all new business.
So all this discussion about how he\’s made the situation worse is kind of obsolete. Citizens will end up with the remaining, what, 30% of homes in Fla?
You can\’t dissuade companies from coming to Florida if NONE OF THEM want to be here in the first place.
Crist better beware…Companies may not be able to leave for awhile, but they can close for accepting new policies and Citizens will be the only one left. Crist will have to fund it through new taxes. Instead of being known as the Governor who save Florida from the big bad insurers, he will be known as the Governor who reduced the population because he raised taxes so high, the residents couldn\’t afford to live here.
Crist\’s new logo-Taxes are us
Everyone is missing a big point here. Insurance companies raise rates when they are not making a profit. And since we\’ve all been around the last couple of years and know what has happened, insurance companies have been paying out big bucks for these disasterous hurricane seasons. It is a political thing to malign insurance companies by saying \”we\’re so tired of seeing rate hike, after rate, hike, etc.\” But the picture is, if they make the companies stay in the state, not let them receive the rate they need to stay afloat, you\’re going to see some insurance companies go belly up. And then where will the constituates in Florida be? Meanwhile, Citizens has done poorly and all the other companies are having to be assessed for their inadequacy, adding more burden. It\’s spirally down, people.
Point is … you live in a state with the propensity towards large claims (Florida, California, etc.), you are going to have to pay some mighty hefty premiums. Live with it or live in a place where there won\’t be much choice because everyone will pull out.
So, excluding the cat exposure of wind and flood is writing insurance in FL profitable? I do not live in FL, and have no idea what the average HO insurance premiums are, but it seems like the citizens of FL do not accept what the companies claim is their actuarily sound premium levels in order to write at a profit.
Everytime I read articles / comments with regard to the FL insurance problem, the more I believe a CAT fund needs to be set up to remove the insurers from the CAT exposure business. I was wondering…if there were moderate to bad hurricane seasons every year, is it even possible to insure homes at a profit?
I would assume that those of you who have posted here(and please correct me if I\’m wrong) would just have the private insurers charge what they need to be profitable. But what percentage of homeowners would need to priced out of the market before we should look for an alternative solution. Say, for example, to turn a profit in FL, private insurers would have to charge a rate that priced out 40% of the homeowners, is this okay? Do any of you have another suggestion?
I do agree though, that forcing business decisions on these companies will have them looking for a way out and may in the end really hurt Floridians.
Let\’s face it, insurors are going to insist that property is insured to value. If the insured refuses, then the carrier can say \”Adios\” without breaking Florida\’s silly rule.
Second, continued failures by Citizens fall on all other Florida policyholders through an assessment of their premium. Eventually, if Florida politicians keep mucking with the market place, there won\’t be any private insurance policies to assess…then guess who pays for Citizen\’s mismanagement? Can you say, T A X E S?
This whole scenario is heavy handed politics which obviously was initiated to appease the citizens and totally ingnore the insurance companies whose financial health is meaningless to the Gov and legislators.
It would be laughable if wasn\’t so pathetic.
The knee-jerk reaction by the Gov and legislators to fix a very complicated problem of rising premiums, availability and capacity can only be solved by working with industry leaders, insurers and knowledge professionals.
You may legislate the insurers for a season but unless the Gov and legislators act responsibly Florida will see a mass carrier exodus then the great Citizens Property & Casualty will truly be the market of last resort. Then what will Floridians do for property insurance?
Can you spell RECALL. I have already heard this being whispered amoung many people. Crist maybe able to fool some of the people right now, come 15 months from now when EVERYONE is paying more for ALL their insurance policies he will not be so popular. He is also attacking the Cities tax bases and is creating more enemies than friends.
I am not from Florida so maybe someone from there can clarify some things for me? From what I understand Florida has billions of dollars in taxes from the rest of us who go there every year on vacations. I think, but again would be curious, what kind of state income and personal property taxes do Florida homeowners pay? I live in middle America where insurance is a lot more affordable but my property tax on my small middle class home is adds around $300 to my monthly mortgage payment and I pay approximately another $250 a month in state income tax. I could be wrong, but I have heard Floridians do not pay either of these taxes or quite a bit less. Maybe somebody could let me know the answer? So if they get an increase in their monthly insurance premiums of say $550 then they are back to where I am here in Middle America where we are not blessed with such a huge influx of cash from tourism. So the way I look at it you Floridians do not pay as much in local taxes as the rest of the country and do not have to because of the huge bucks coming in from tourism. It seems like a case of wanting to have your cake and eat it too. They should buck up and pay the higher rates because as someone said earlier, they will pay it to the insurance companies or in the form of higher taxes. I am no expert, but I bet private insurance companies can run more efficiently than a state run insurance company. You should pay, as much in insurance as it costs to insure your home where it is located not expect others out of state to pay for you to live in paradise. It is about 10 degrees where I am. What is it like in FL today?
I do live in Fla. Outside of CAT exposure, Fl HO is a very lucrative market.
And you\’re right. Outpricing homeowners is exactly what\’s happening. Yes, that\’s what most of the posters on this topic would LOVE to see. They call it \’free market\’. Let premiums go from $1200 to $7500 (which is an actual figure) and let those people who choose to live in Fla lose their homes as long as the insurance companies remain lucrative and they get to say it\’s a free market. The general consensus on this board is that we all deserve it because we choose to live here. I guess the same goes for Ca (Earthquakes), NC and SC, Ala. and La (hurricanes), Tx, Ok, and all the other midwestern states in Tornado Alley, – oh I forgot Or and Wash all those fires- they deserve it too, I guess.
And I almost forgot the ice storm in Ok. Guess when those premiums go double digit increase, those people will deserve it, too.
Ca has an Earthquake fund due to the same issues with insurers not wanting to cover them. That\’s exactly what needs to be done with Hurricanes, IMHO. Ala, La, Fla, NC, and SC are ALL large Hurricane risks. (VA has even taken a few major hits, so I guess they could be part of it)
We have updated our privacy policy to be more clear and meet the new requirements of the GDPR. By continuing to use our site, you accept our revised Privacy Policy.
Looks to me like the politicians think they know more than anyone else. I suspect when able to do so, most of the companies doing business in Florida will call it quits and the state can insure maybe 80% of the business written with Citizens. What attraction has Florida put out to bring new companies in? I guess the state needs to limit cancellations as they realize they just passed a real bad law and many companies will want no part of the changes.
Florida already has no attraction to any private insurers, and Citizens is already the largest insurer by a very wide margin.
Foreclosures are up due to escrow, (My mortgage went up $500 a month due to insurance this year, I\’m going to be struggling to not be in that list) mortgage companies can\’t \’force\’ place, and every insurer already limits if not completely rejects all new business.
So all this discussion about how he\’s made the situation worse is kind of obsolete. Citizens will end up with the remaining, what, 30% of homes in Fla?
You can\’t dissuade companies from coming to Florida if NONE OF THEM want to be here in the first place.
JMHO
Crist better beware…Companies may not be able to leave for awhile, but they can close for accepting new policies and Citizens will be the only one left. Crist will have to fund it through new taxes. Instead of being known as the Governor who save Florida from the big bad insurers, he will be known as the Governor who reduced the population because he raised taxes so high, the residents couldn\’t afford to live here.
Crist\’s new logo-Taxes are us
Everyone is missing a big point here. Insurance companies raise rates when they are not making a profit. And since we\’ve all been around the last couple of years and know what has happened, insurance companies have been paying out big bucks for these disasterous hurricane seasons. It is a political thing to malign insurance companies by saying \”we\’re so tired of seeing rate hike, after rate, hike, etc.\” But the picture is, if they make the companies stay in the state, not let them receive the rate they need to stay afloat, you\’re going to see some insurance companies go belly up. And then where will the constituates in Florida be? Meanwhile, Citizens has done poorly and all the other companies are having to be assessed for their inadequacy, adding more burden. It\’s spirally down, people.
Point is … you live in a state with the propensity towards large claims (Florida, California, etc.), you are going to have to pay some mighty hefty premiums. Live with it or live in a place where there won\’t be much choice because everyone will pull out.
So, excluding the cat exposure of wind and flood is writing insurance in FL profitable? I do not live in FL, and have no idea what the average HO insurance premiums are, but it seems like the citizens of FL do not accept what the companies claim is their actuarily sound premium levels in order to write at a profit.
Everytime I read articles / comments with regard to the FL insurance problem, the more I believe a CAT fund needs to be set up to remove the insurers from the CAT exposure business. I was wondering…if there were moderate to bad hurricane seasons every year, is it even possible to insure homes at a profit?
I would assume that those of you who have posted here(and please correct me if I\’m wrong) would just have the private insurers charge what they need to be profitable. But what percentage of homeowners would need to priced out of the market before we should look for an alternative solution. Say, for example, to turn a profit in FL, private insurers would have to charge a rate that priced out 40% of the homeowners, is this okay? Do any of you have another suggestion?
I do agree though, that forcing business decisions on these companies will have them looking for a way out and may in the end really hurt Floridians.
Let\’s face it, insurors are going to insist that property is insured to value. If the insured refuses, then the carrier can say \”Adios\” without breaking Florida\’s silly rule.
Second, continued failures by Citizens fall on all other Florida policyholders through an assessment of their premium. Eventually, if Florida politicians keep mucking with the market place, there won\’t be any private insurance policies to assess…then guess who pays for Citizen\’s mismanagement? Can you say, T A X E S?
W
This whole scenario is heavy handed politics which obviously was initiated to appease the citizens and totally ingnore the insurance companies whose financial health is meaningless to the Gov and legislators.
It would be laughable if wasn\’t so pathetic.
The knee-jerk reaction by the Gov and legislators to fix a very complicated problem of rising premiums, availability and capacity can only be solved by working with industry leaders, insurers and knowledge professionals.
You may legislate the insurers for a season but unless the Gov and legislators act responsibly Florida will see a mass carrier exodus then the great Citizens Property & Casualty will truly be the market of last resort. Then what will Floridians do for property insurance?
Can you spell RECALL. I have already heard this being whispered amoung many people. Crist maybe able to fool some of the people right now, come 15 months from now when EVERYONE is paying more for ALL their insurance policies he will not be so popular. He is also attacking the Cities tax bases and is creating more enemies than friends.
I am not from Florida so maybe someone from there can clarify some things for me? From what I understand Florida has billions of dollars in taxes from the rest of us who go there every year on vacations. I think, but again would be curious, what kind of state income and personal property taxes do Florida homeowners pay? I live in middle America where insurance is a lot more affordable but my property tax on my small middle class home is adds around $300 to my monthly mortgage payment and I pay approximately another $250 a month in state income tax. I could be wrong, but I have heard Floridians do not pay either of these taxes or quite a bit less. Maybe somebody could let me know the answer? So if they get an increase in their monthly insurance premiums of say $550 then they are back to where I am here in Middle America where we are not blessed with such a huge influx of cash from tourism. So the way I look at it you Floridians do not pay as much in local taxes as the rest of the country and do not have to because of the huge bucks coming in from tourism. It seems like a case of wanting to have your cake and eat it too. They should buck up and pay the higher rates because as someone said earlier, they will pay it to the insurance companies or in the form of higher taxes. I am no expert, but I bet private insurance companies can run more efficiently than a state run insurance company. You should pay, as much in insurance as it costs to insure your home where it is located not expect others out of state to pay for you to live in paradise. It is about 10 degrees where I am. What is it like in FL today?
I do live in Fla. Outside of CAT exposure, Fl HO is a very lucrative market.
And you\’re right. Outpricing homeowners is exactly what\’s happening. Yes, that\’s what most of the posters on this topic would LOVE to see. They call it \’free market\’. Let premiums go from $1200 to $7500 (which is an actual figure) and let those people who choose to live in Fla lose their homes as long as the insurance companies remain lucrative and they get to say it\’s a free market. The general consensus on this board is that we all deserve it because we choose to live here. I guess the same goes for Ca (Earthquakes), NC and SC, Ala. and La (hurricanes), Tx, Ok, and all the other midwestern states in Tornado Alley, – oh I forgot Or and Wash all those fires- they deserve it too, I guess.
And I almost forgot the ice storm in Ok. Guess when those premiums go double digit increase, those people will deserve it, too.
Ca has an Earthquake fund due to the same issues with insurers not wanting to cover them. That\’s exactly what needs to be done with Hurricanes, IMHO. Ala, La, Fla, NC, and SC are ALL large Hurricane risks. (VA has even taken a few major hits, so I guess they could be part of it)