Sounding off about the property insurance
crisis
Many Bay area residents
attended Thursday's town hall meeting in St. Petersburg.
Posted October 13, 2006
The high cost of property insurance is
affecting residents statewide.
Now, a group of top insurance officials are speaking out about the problems and
offering some solutions. Bay area residents have been fuming about skyrocketing
property insurance rates.
"It is wrong and the state people have allowed it to go on," concerned resident
Fred Serrano said.
On Thursday night, Serrano and hundreds of other residents attended an insurance
crisis town hall meeting at the Hilton in St. Petersburg.
"They've tripled and some places quadrupled," Homeowners Against Citizens
President Ginny Stevans said. "It's sending people out of their homes."
In a rare event hosted by Bay News 9
and our partner paper, the St. Petersburg Times,
top insurance officials including Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty
and Citizens Property Insurance Board Chairman Bruce Douglas were on hand to
discuss the insurance crisis and what's leading to it.
"With eight hurricanes and with the fact that the reinsurance market has all but
abandoned Florida, the premiums are just unbelievably high and the problem is
they're not high enough," Douglas said.
Top insurance officials blame the dramatic hikes on past hurricanes and said
many insurance companies have bailed out statewide, leaving only a few to handle
all of the cleanup.
Insurance companies recognize the prices are steep, but said they can't afford
to bring them down.
So, they're offering some solutions like a 1 percent sales tax that would help
lower premiums. They also said offering mitigation where homeowners would
receive matching grants to make repairs to their homes might help.
According to some homeowners, if they don't see a change soon, they'll be forced
to move out of Florida.
There is talk that Governor Jeb Bush is considering holding a special session
about the rising insurance rates. However, that would not take place until after
the November elections.
To watch the entire insurance crisis town hall
meeting, go to
Bay News 9
Demand, Channel 342, on Bright
House Networks digital cable.
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