Today's Letters: Don't let insurance companies benefit from shirking risks
By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published June 27, 2007
Citizens' business booms June 26, story
It's bad enough that private insurance companies such as State Farm can cancel homeowner policies at will and gouge the customers they decide to keep. But to allow their agents to sell Citizens Property Insurance policies plus receive a commission for it is ludicrous.
Citizens paid out $362-million in commissions to private agents last year. "We're rewarding the insurance companies who have dropped policies in the state of Florida, " said Sen. Mike Fasano. He is so right!
Why should any private insurer benefit in any way when people are being forced to buy home insurance from the state and the state is relieving the private insurer of risk? With Citizens taking such a high risk and in need of revenue, this $362-million paid to private agents is desperately needed to cover policies.
I hope Gov. Charlie Crist will look into this matter and allow homeowners to deal directly with the state.
Jack Burlakos, Kenneth City
Get more competitive
Citizens' business booms June 26, story
It's the people's insurance but it is sold by the same private insurers who canceled our policies. Citizens Property Insurance needs to have its own agents because we don't want to give one cent to these companies that have made huge profits off of us over the years and now have forced most of us into this state insurance.
I was dropped this year by Allstate after spending $11, 000 hardening my home last year and will be paying a blackmail- like price to cover my modest home. I will not renew my car insurance with Allstate or any national company that offers home insurance but does not sell policies to Florida property owners. I don't want to reward bad behavior.
The best bet for Floridians is making Citizens truly the people's insurance company by making it more competitive. Compete directly with the private companies by offering policies to lower-risk homeowners with a lower cost and do not let agents from the private insurers sell the policies. There is no point hoping that private insurance will become affordable by appeasement.
The private insurance business in Florida as we knew it is no more. Private insurers are covering only low-risk homes and cancelling everyone else leaving the high risk for Citizens. I believe a more competitive Citizens would give the private insurers a wakeup call. If you want to sell insurance in Florida you have to offer policies to everyone or no one. Are Allstate and State Farm willing to lose all that business? I don't think so.
The cost of homeowners insurance is a worse problem than property taxes for most Floridians. Property insurance is still a mess and we need to remind our state government officials to fulfill their promise to lower insurance costs. They can start by making Citizens more competitive and offering it to all Floridians.
Reggie Hall, Ozona
A system gone awry
Capitalism is supposed to provide the best product for the best price spurred on by competition. The few insurance companies left that are still writing policies here prove that this is not what we have.
Currently we have a few monopolies with a powerful lobby and politicians in their back pocket all while making windfall profits. Many Floridians have been paying high premiums for many years only to be dropped for no good reason. These companies cherry pick their customers and let Citizens Property Insurance have their scraps.
These companies should be restricted from selling home insurance in Florida - period. If Citizens could sign on more low-risk clients at a fair price it would bring down the price for everyone and could be the solution we need to take us out of our current crisis. Later we could allow insurance companies to do business in Florida only if they could compete with Citizens.
Scott McKown, Palm Harbor
Homophobic at heart
Feelings hurt? Apply muzzle June 25, George F. Will column
What a surprise it was when I opened up Monday's Times to find a George F. Will column on the op-ed page devoted to his out-of-touch view on the social issues of today.
In this piece he actually manages to make a valid point about First Amendment freedoms. The problem is that he then extrapolates that point out over several hundred words, using the guise of a freedom of speech argument to convey his homophobic undertones.
His last paragraph is a dead giveaway to this, as he bemoans congressional legislation attempting to enhance the penalties for hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Somehow he relates this to his original point as a First Amendment issue. We wouldn't want to be treating hate crimes as a serious offense, now would we?
I read writers from across the political spectrum on the op-ed page often to get a well-rounded view of things. However, George Will has been spewing the same revisionist line of thinking for the past 15 years. He offers nothing new and I don't know why the paper even bothers to continue publishing his writings. He should stick to baseball.
Patrick L. Kennedy, Clearwater
A very special lady
Advocate for poor resigns June 22, story
Giving hope to the homeless, the poor, the jobless and the desperate set Sophie Sampson apart. Her kindness was personified at tent city in St. Petersburg.
She had the amazing ability to take people off the streets, care for them and if possible, put them back on the road to self-sufficiency.
Sophie took unskilled, homeless people with potential and started a 16-week job-training program. The second class graduated in June. The graduating chefs catered the ceremony, which was held at the Sophie Sampson Center for Hope. Every morsel was superb. The elegance of the service was reminiscent of a grand old hotel. Thanks to the experience of cooking at the St. Vincent de Paul kitchen, some of the new chefs already had full-time jobs. Others earned their GED from PTEC or received legal aide or computer certificates.
Perhaps as Sophie was aging and our needs were rising, the responsibility became too much for one person. I wish the job were separated into two functions because Sophie's love of the poor cannot easily be replaced.
Hopefully others can open their hearts and offer their talents to the poor.
Sophie will be remembered and cherished for her actions.
Marylou Hess, Gulfport
Robots are better
Back to the beginning June 26, story
Robotic missions are the only sound use of taxpayer's money for exploration of space. They can do so much, for so long, for so little, when compared to a mission with astronauts. The Dawn mission will last eight years and cost $446-million. That's below the cost of one space shuttle mission.
As for the International Space Station, we only hear about it when something goes wrong or a billionaire visits. What an orbiting financial black hole that is.
William Shumaker, Tampa
A topic too grim
The Doonesbury strip on Saturday depicting the sniper's reference to his first "pink mist" is a bit much for the comics page, don't you think?
It's Orwellian: Peace is war, truth is fiction and ghastly is now funny. Put Garry Trudeau's grim strip on the op-ed page where it belongs with Pat Oliphant's cartoons.
Gary Harrington, St. Petersburg
Try better judgment
1 less hangover headache June 21
The article states that an inebriated person is using "good judgement" when leaving his or her car at a bar. I feel he or she has already used bad judgment by getting inebriated.
All these programs that keep drunken drivers off the road are good for that reason (keeping them off the road), but what about personal responsibility? Don't get drunk at all - now that really is using good judgement.
Rose Marginson, Tampa