Posted on 04/26/2011 1:37:42 PM PDT by rob88888
There are reports that Florida Governor Rick Scott is considering abolishing Citizens Property Insurance. Citizens Property Insurance is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt government corporation that provides property insurance to Florida residents statewide. It has more than 1.3 million policyholders, making it the largest property insurer in the state of Florida.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
getting rid of OBAMACARE for real estate ?
So it sounds like it’s another taxpayer-funded, feel-good endeavor. Gotta be a better way.
Well, in general, I am against government intervention in the free market. Unfortunately, rolling back progressivism can get tricky. What happens if he does this, the people can’t get private insurance for their homes, and he crashes the real estate market?
Think it through and make an appropriate transition plan.
The goal is good, though.
The fair question to ask is why should one set of private citizens be forced to subsidize the choices in living arrangements made by another set of private citizens? As for crashing the real estate market... 0bama beat Gov. Scott to the punch on that one.
One of the problems here is that people are able to get insurance for building in areas that are very high risk. Areas where they wouldn’t build with a free market because the cost of insuring would be prohibitive.
Irony in Florida on coasts is that the EnviroTards would get their goals if the government didn’t force insurance to be offered to beach front property. Less government would naturally result in less development of sensitive coastal areas.
No one really wants to use them because they have the highest rates. However, they are the only ones that will insure some beach or waterfront properties.
Too soon to tell.
ALLSTATE cancelled my policy after hurricane Ivan even though I never made a claim, always paid my insurance premiums and never was late. Had been with them for 20 years. Car, house, etc. Did the same to my neighbor. I will never buy any of Allstates product again, ever...................
Nothing but subsidizing risky behavior.
Should the government also provide “experimental aircraft insurance”, “skydiving insurance” or “deep water diving insurance”?
Let the market determine the rates.
Actuaries have the training and skills, while the goobermint just has MONEY.
one of his proposals is to eliminate “low claims” and simply not cover others. (sinkholes)
Insuance companies, ala obamacare, just dump people into citizens insurance as a FIRST resort.
Finally, I'm a coastal dweller, and I am tired of paying subsidies to Citizens. My insurance bill is plenty costly already without having to subsidize others.
everywhere has risks.
earthquakes, sandstorms, floods, tornadoes, sinkholes, locust, drought, termites, volcanoes...
One way to reduce the cost is through mitigation. huricane windows, shutters mandatory etc.
I want to know why we still use termite feeding roof trusses? seems non-wood materials would be stonger, less expensive and more durable.
Every state with a coastline has such a nutty setup. At the end of the day the taxpayers that do not have properties in harms was subsidize the ones that do.
The same thing applies to the so-called FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). It is not insurance any more than Obamacare is. Federal flood insurance is nothing more than a contract between someone and the US Government that promises to pay for flood related “losses”. That sounds like insurance but because the program is negative billions of dollars every year and at times after major storms Congress dumps 10’s of billions more in it is simply socialized “insurance”. It is not actuarial sound. If it was it would be bankrupt. DOA.
Programs like NFIP allow the government to create development where it should not be. Around New Orleans, for example. It is insane to allow development to occur in a bowl below sea level. But they do. Insane.
So, federal flood insurance “premiums” are paid by every American taxpayer. When some bozo builds a house on the coast that get wiped out another guy is paying to rebuild it. Even if the second guy is living on a mountain top or in the desert. That’s the way it is. Why? Because stupid rules the day when it comes to government. Surfs up:)
Many ins agents in Florida have nothing to lose to tell a client that no one will write their home and dump them into the double-the-price Citizens ins. I’ll bet the commission for the agent is greater that way.
49 Citizens Property Insurance employees earn more than $100,000 a year
Forty-nine employees earned more than $100,000 last year; six received moving expenses ranging from $1,241 to $52,414; and 657 received overtime ranging from 84 cents to $23,920. About 107 Citizens executives and managers — including some first-line managers — earned $84,000 on average last year.
I live on the gulf coast. Insurance is out of sight, both residential and commercial. Here is a suggestion.
Let us invest free of all taxes, fed,state and local in a dedicated disaster account,up to 10% of our homes or businesses replacement cost annually in return for no fed disaster help.
This account would be dedicated to home or business repair for the first five years and for anything after that. It would take the pressure off the ins. companies and the fed.
After ten years we would have the entire replacement cost invested if no disaster.
It’s gambling with ourselves instead of the ins. company.
Of course, liability and theft insurance would be allowed.
I live in Florida and was forced into Citizens Property Insurance. Very few companies write insurance in my area and I'm required to have insurance for my mortgage. My wife made a mistake . . . she was honest on an insurance application. She admitted that we have a pet snake, a Ball Python. This is NOT anything close to a Burmese Python, as the Ball Python has a maximum length of 2-3 feet and is so harmless that they are often used as pets in schools. Our snake is far less dangerous than our housecat, as a snakebite can't even break skin. When the one insurance company who was willing to consider us saw this on an application, they rejected our application because we had “an exotic animal.” Stupid, stupid, stupid. I wrote the Insurance Commissioner and the Governor but got no response.
So, we had no choice but to get the Citizens Property Insurance pool. If the Governor closes this pool, we will be forced to get rid of our pet . . . or be forced to lie to get insurance.
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