Florida property owners might be paying the country’s highest property insurance rates.
Still, a Florida insurance expert speaking at a Democratic Town Hall said it’s not because insurance companies are making a killing.
Paul Handerhan, president and founder of the Federal Association for Insurance Reform and former president of the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters, said that the Office of Insurance Regulation ensures that insurance companies make no more than a nickel of profit for every dollar they bring in.
“We’ve got to stop the infighting and the finger-pointing,” Handerhan said.
Handerhan was the guest of Democratic Reps. Hillary Cassel of Dania Beach and Anna Eskamani of Orlando at an online Zoom meeting Wednesday that was on Eskamani’s Facebook page.
The retreat of Farmers Insurance from the state led the state’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis to accuse the company of playing politics and to blame “wokeness.” Democrats have also laid the deepening crisis at the Republicans’ feet, given their control of the state policies for nearly two decades.
The hour-long discussion touched on numerous factors: lawsuits, catastrophic weather events that seem to be worsening, decreasing competition among companies, and increasing home values.
It’s all been adding up to higher insurance rates for consumers.
Handerhan said programs like My Safe Florida Home, which offers state funding for residents willing to bolster their homes’ resistance to weather, are steps in the right direction.
“The market is getting better, and I think it will continue to get better,” Handerhan said. “It’s not all gloom and doom.”
Eskamani floated the possibility that a Special Session might be in the offing to get more support for consumers. However, she did not entirely agree with Handerhan’s assessment of the situation.
“I think there has been a lot kicking the can down the road that has been GOP responsibility — we’ve been seeing this get worse and worse for years with little action until now when it’s too late,” Eskamani said. “The solution is going to take everyone working together, but the party in control does take responsibility for the lack of proactive action.”