Short End of the Stick

Tallahassee wants to stick it to us.

If we own a home, we are just about forced into buying homeowner’s insurance. Lenders require it. It is not a product that we as a consumer can take or leave. We can shop around but all these companies offer essentially the same premiums and in the end we are forced to buy an expensive policy; we have no choice.

Now we don’t have much protection on exorbitant pricing either. Most of the discussion you read in the newspapers or hear on television has been on the supply side—how can we keep the insurance providers happy and want to do business in our State. The insurance companies continue to subtlety threaten to leave our State if they can't make more money. That has been the concern for Florida legislatures. Little thought has been given to the customer, you and me.

Almost a year ago, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said that more than fifty new companies are selling property insurance since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. "Apparently, a competitive market to some is one where a small handful of firms dominate," McCarty writes.

We have a State Rep in St. Augustine, William Proctor, who is proposing an amendment to the HB 447 that will allow a 15% increase on insurance premiums: 5% the first year, 10% the second year and 15% percent for years after that. Does this guy own an insurance company?

This is insanity. The insurance companies used to tell us it was because of the terrible hurricane damage we keep incurring in Florida. Well we haven't had one in years. Now the reason to stick it to us? They tell us it is because they need to “shore up the industry ravaged by NON-HURRICANE losses…”

Is there anyone in Tallahassee protecting the consumer or has this always been about BIG BUSINESS and how they can rip off the citizens of Florida? The insurance lobby is strong. They have a mission on a daily basis in Tallahassee. We, on the other hand, only have the ballot box every few years or so and voters have short memories.

The Fort Myers News-Press reports that the bill is much of “an insurance industry wish list,” allowing companies to charge rates beyond those approved by regulators.” Pete Burkert, running for State Senator Dist 27, says, "This bad bill will allow insurance companies to raise homeowners’ insurance premiums with greater ease."

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There has been an attempt at a balancing act in the past but it is apparent that the Florida consumer is on the short end of this stick.