Put people in office who will fix
insurance crisis
By Carol Howard
Letter - August 22, 2006
The last word on the insurance
crisis is - politicians. The only way to begin solving this problem is with our
votes.
I've lived in Florida since 1977,
then a single mom raising kids on a secretary's salary. I always owned a home
and could pay my insurance. Today, when things should be easier, they are worse.
I've seen 30 years of hurricanes and always could afford my premium.
Pasco County's sinkhole claims went
from $162,000 to $42-million in a matter of four years. If all these were
legitimate sinkholes, half of Pasco would be underground.
The insurance company run by the
state is in dire need of an audit and new, competent management.
No, this crisis is not due to
hurricanes and sinkholes. This crisis is a result of legislators who forgot
about the middle class, legislators who put insurance companies and their
lobbyists above the needs of the people, legislators who have done nothing thus
far to alleviate 300 to 400 percent increases, causing hardworking, middle-class
Floridians to lose their homes!
This "panel," headed by the
lieutenant governor, suggested the following:
A tax-free catastrophe savings
account. How well did the health care savings account work?
Higher deductibles! Either pay now
or pay later, and the premium does not decrease much, given the exorbitant rate
to begin with.
Stronger building codes? Great!
Higher housing costs and grants from the government to hurricane-proof your home
- most of us affected by the rate increases cannot afford this expense.
Point being, those giving us these
solutions are those who contributed to this mess in the first place.
People of Florida, elections are
coming and that is the only way this can be fixed, or at least changed, and
right now any positive change is welcome. We all must listen carefully to all
candidates, especially those running for governor and chief financial officer.
Demand to hear their detailed plans to fix this problem and see which of them
will put it in writing, so as to be held accountable.
God controls hurricanes, but we can
have a voice in who controls our insurance bills. Only consider those who put
insurance reform as a top priority, as it should be, and then make informed
decisions at the polls.
Carol Howard, Spring Hill
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