Insurance Rate Veto Makes Matters Worse

It is troubling to read how Floridians are having to choose between paying higher insurance premiums or moving out of Florida ("Homeowners hit with higher insurance premiums," July 9). But, as Florida carries the most hurricane risk of all other states combined, insurance here will never be cheap.

Rather than reducing prices, Gov. Charlie Crist's knee-jerk reforms of 2007 and his equally knee-jerk veto earlier this year raised them for many, as many insurers have either left Florida or gone bankrupt, leaving behind fewer companies to spread the risk and compete with one another. The consequence: higher rates.

Ironically, the bill that Crist veoted in the name of lower rates probably would have offered more protection than the status quo. It would have allowed companies to narrowly raise and lower rates to adjust for inflation and reinsurance cost fluctuations. It would have also forced insurance companies to maintain higher reserves for its consumers' security, so taxpayers would not be left to cover unpaid claims.

It was a good bill, and many of the problems Florida is seeing stem directly from Gov. Crist's veto.

Christian R. Cámara, Director of Florida Insurance Project, The Heartland Institute, Tallahassee