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Groups Want To Eliminate Hurricane Surcharges From Insurance Bills
January 19, 2011
Several groups are seeking to eliminate assessments on your insurance bills for the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and Citizens Property Insurance.
Associated Industries of Florida is teaming up with the Florida Wildlife Federation and other non-profit groups in urging Gov. Rick Scott and lawmakers to eliminate assessments levied on all property, casualty and automobile policyholders in the event of deficits to fund and Citizens, the state’s largest property insurer with 1.3 million policies in place.
In a letter to the newly elected governor, the group urged Scott to use his influence to reduce or eliminate the use of assessments to bail out both funds in the event a severe hurricane.
“It is inexcusable for Florida to continue to require our businesses and charities as well as other Floridians – even those who are not Citizens policyholders – to subsidize many of the state’s most fortunate living in expensive homes on the coast, the group wrote.
“Remarkably, this system results in charities subsidizing the owners of $3 million vacation homes.”
Other non-profits to sign on to the letter include United Way of Florida, Big Brothers, Big Sisters of the Big Bend, the Heartand Institute and the Florida Afterschool Network, a coalition of afterschool providers.
The insurance industry generally agrees that assessments should be reduced as much as possible or eliminated.
“Citizens can be much smaller if it once again covers only homeowners unable to get insurance on the private market,” the Florida Insurance Council said in a statement.
“This would reduce Citizens assessments following a major hurricane. Cat Fund premiums should be high enough to cash surplus in non-hurricane years. It should not compete with the private reinsurance market unnecessarily, as the Legislature instructed it to do following the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. All of this will reduce the Cat Fund’s need for bonding and assessments.”
Comments
4 Responses to “Groups Want To Eliminate Hurricane Surcharges From Insurance Bills”
this is long overdue. If you want to live near the water that is fine. If you want the rest of Flordia to help pay your insurance, that is not !
I agree with Bill Scott. He is spot on. There are a lot of things that have to be considered. I also agree there is a lot of Cherry Picking!
As an owner of an Insurance Agency who has contracts with about 10 Homeowner Carriers…I must point out that these groups obviously represents the domestics insurance carriers of FL and is very misleading. First Citizens does not insure homes over $1 million and any home over $750,000 near the coast MUST have Miami Dade compliant window and door protection. Secondly, it is the smaller, older homes that can be miles from the coast that no domestic carriers want, the homes the typical retirees live in. If the “domestics” do write it, the price is extremely high. Third, the FL domestic insurance carriers have had 5 years of no storms, yet there has been no substantial build up of reserve accounts. The money taken in goes to reinsurance at ever increasing rates and to pay the principals of the domestic companies. These mostly Bermuda reinsurers operate in secrecy and have received something like $15 billion in premiums from Flroidians during the past 5 years of no storms, but this money goes to profit reinsurers, not to build up any reserves for the benefit of Floridians.
Citizens only needs to be in the Hurricane Wind business and concentrate on providing just enough coverage to meet Federal Lending guidelines and concentrate on building a State Hurricane Superfund, that can keep these billions of dollars now going to reinsurers under State control. Corporate greed at the expense of all Floridians is causing much of this problem. These corporations want to charge whatever they want and to “cherry pick” the newer inland homes at the expense of the older homes miles from the coast.
I agree with this group. We should not have to pay for someone to live on the water. If this continues, then the homeowners should not be allowed to rebuild on that site. We should not have to continue to support their lifestyle. Let them move away from the coast, or pay their own way. The people of Florida that is paying the most, can’t afford it.