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What should we do?

By TOM ZUCCO
Published May 29, 2006

	Bruce Douglas
	Tom Cunningham
	Joy Timmons
	Bud Holland
	Gordon Chernecky
	Sam Miller
	It's Your Times: How would you fix Florida's property insurance problems

Everyone seems to have a solution to Florida's mounting property insurance crisis.

Dismantle Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer of last resort? Or should we turn that around and have Citizens cover everyone's windstorm policy? Or do we ask the federal government to step in and create a national fund for natural disasters of any kind, something like the National Flood Insurance Program?

The Florida Legislature took at stab at the problem and this month passed insurance reforms that included paying down Citizens' $1.7-billion deficit, offering grant money to make homes more secure and $25-million in loans to insurance companies to lure them back into the market.

But for thousands of homeowners whose insurance costs have doubled or tripled in the last two years, that's a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.

We asked a range of Floridians for their ideas.

Bruce Douglas, chairman of Citizens Property Insurance board of governors

The emphasis should be on mitigation. You've got to reduce the exposure and encourage personal responsibility on the part of homeowners. Enough hasn't been done to improve homes, particularly older homes.

Premiums could be reduced by as much as 40 percent if everyone did everything they could.

There is a portion of the population that can't afford the insurance rates, and that's a very serious problem. But the vast majority of people could mitigate their homes.

It's not government's function to manage people's lives. Government's function is to protect the people. The government could force mitigation, but that's a bit totalitarian.

If Citizens wrote the whole policy, it would drive the voluntary market nuts. Wouldn't it be reasonable for the voluntary market to look at picking up the windstorm?

The primary responsibility falls on individual homeowners. Should we have a national catastrophe fund for reinsurance? I don't think people in Idaho want to pay for Florida's problems.

Joy Timmons, 64, retired, Holiday

We got no help from our Legislature and it's time to take things into our own hands.

What about hundreds of thousands of Floridians getting their own insurance? The rates could be statewide and citizens could then have their own insurance. It's time to dismantle Citizens and start all over again. There's no fixing it.

Tom Cunningham, 77, retired, St. Petersburg

I'd call the Legislature into special session and have them change the law that requires Citizens rates to be higher than the private companies. That would level the playing field.

And pass a 1-cent sales tax increase, just for 12 months, and require Citizens to reduce their premiums. Adding a penny sales tax is much more equitable than the high cost of a bond issue.

Also, if private insurers write full lines in other states, they should be required to write full lines here. Citizens should be run for the benefit of citizens, not the private insurers.

Sam Miller, executive vice president of the Florida Insurance Council

We'll always have to have a Citizens. The danger is that that's all we have. The smaller insurer has to become more and more important to the Florida market.

Possibly down the road, the state has to take on 100 percent of the hurricane peril. I hope that doesn't happen. It might be 15 to 20 percent of the state budget.

Gordon Chernecky, 46, president of Shield Insurance of Tampa Bay in Clearwater, an independent agency

Bring on government regulation. Call a special session right now, add a penny to the sales tax and force the highly profitable auto, health and life insurance carriers to do a percentage of their business in homeowners insurance.

The penny from the sales tax would go to offset the Citizens' deficit, a catastrophic insurance pool or to lower premiums even further.

And change the law that makes Citizens the most expensive carrier.

It's a supply and demand issue. If an insurer is going to make a lot of money, they've got to do some homeowners policies. Across the board for people who write.

Everybody's bashing Citizens, but it's like shooting the messenger.

Bud Holland, 64, retired, Dunedin

The Legislature should have the ability to tell insurance companies which counties they can sell or not sell in. If an insurance company didn't like it, they could leave.

You can't cherry-pick the policies you want and leave the others out to dry.

[Last modified May 29, 2006, 06:00:49]