Hurricane Andrew and continuing to this day, Florida home insurance companies have continued to pull out of the state or seek significant rate increases. Why? Because both Florida homeowners insurance companies and state regulators can’t seem to agree on the right amount that consumers should pay for the hurricane portion of their Florida home insurance bill.So starting in the 1990’s, the State of Florida started to charge special assessments on each Florida home insurance policy written and formed an insurance company of last resort which today is called Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to make sure that everyone in Florida has at least one insurance company willing to cover their home or business.The state also created an entity called The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund that requires all licensed Florida home insurance companies to purchase reinsurance once the cost of a major hurricane exceeds a certain level. This fund is insurance for Florida insurance companies and helps to make sure that they don’t have to absorb all of the costs of a major hurricane event.Finally, Florida created a legal entity called the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) that will pay your insurance claim if your Florida homeowners insurance company is declared insolvent.Those special assessment line items on your Florida home insurance bill can cause you to pay line item charges for many years into the future. You can be asked to make up the difference when Citizens Property Insurance Corporation and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund don’t have the money to meet their obligations. Or you could be assessed for the difference if FIGA doesn’t have the cash to pay off the claims filed against a Florida homeowners insurance company that became insolvent.So far, at high level, each of these various entities and the protections that they offer make sense. And when they work properly they do help further diversify Florida’s hurricane risk and help make it attractive for Florida home insurance companies to continue to do business in the state.However, the Florida Property Insurance Legislation of 2007 and 2008 have changed and politicized the mission of each of these organizations to a point where they no longer work as they were intended. Why? Because Florida legislators aren’t willing to tell voters the truth – that these entities are now seriously underfunded and not positioned to do what they are supposed to do. Even worse, many Florida consumers don’t realize that they are paying for someone else’s Florida home insurance.At the present time, both the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and Citizens Property Insurance Corporation are underfunded and heavily dependent on an unfriendly bond market to meet their obligations. Both have to try to borrow in advance of Florida hurricanes with mixed success to raise the cash that they need and are coming up short as the country works through the financial crisis.Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is the one organization that causes each of us to subsidize the Florida insurance costs of someone else. Every one of us will be required to pay annual special assessments for many years into the future to cover the cash shortfalls that Citizens Property Insurance had as a result of the 2004/2005 storms. Cash shortfalls are just another way of saying that those who were insured with Citizens for the 2004/2005 storms, were simply not charged enough premium for that coverage. Many of those homes are older homes located near the Florida coast directly in hurricane alley. After the 2004/2005 Florida hurricanes, Florida lawmakers froze the rates being charged by Citizens – a politically popular move that also had the effect of making everyone in Florida no matter where they live, subsidize the Florida home insurance rates of those who live in the most hurricane prone areas of Florida.Last but not least, because the rates of Citizens have been frozen for the past few years, even when consumers can find Florida home insurance in the private market, they are still given the choice of being insured by Citizens and being undercharged for their insurance.This subsidized insurance that many Citizen policyholders receive, comes at a price. It is paid for primarily through special assessments that we all pay as part of our Florida home insurance bills each year. These assessments have become so burdensome, that Florida home insurance policies are not enough to pay the total cost. That’s why you’ll see many of them on your Florida auto and business insurance bills as well.If you are fed up with paying the Florida homeowners insurance premiums of someone else, now is the time to have your voice heard during the current session of the Florida Legislature. Tell the lawmakers that you’ve voted for and sent to Tallahassee that you want the Florida home insurance rates of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation raised to reflect the true cost of the homes they are covering.Photos Union

This week the financial crisis brought more shocking news. General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler executives landed in Washigton on with their corporate jets seeking a share of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.In a shameless display of arrogance and entitlement, leaders of what used to be “best in class” companies begged for billions of dollars with their tin cups outstretched in front of the US Congress. Before the Big Three ever arrived in Washington, billions had already been committed to AIG and some of the largest financial institutions in the country.During this financial meltdown we’re seeing something we never expected to see in our lives – broken promises from major corporations and government institutions on an unprecedented scale. The day has arrived when large companies and large states like Florida can’t raise the cash they need to meet their promises.If you are a Florida home insurance consumer the financial crisis has put your biggest asset at risk – your Florida home.Can you name a more sacred promise than the one a home insurance company makes to you when it takes your money and agrees to insure your home?When you buy homeowners insurance in Florida the insurance company is promising you fast and fair payment of your claim. Florida insurance companies buy reinsurance to help them make good on this promise to you. Reinsurance is backup coverage that insurance companies buy to help protect themselves from big losses above certain levels.The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund was formed as a way to help stabilize the Florida home insurance market after Hurricane Andrew caused billions in damage to Florida in 1992. By offering reinsurance at affordable rates, the fund helped to make homeowners insurance available and affordable for many years.That all changed after the Florida hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 when Florida home insurance became overpriced and hard to find again.The Florida legislature responded to the Florida home insurance crisis by voting in 2007 to expand the reinsurance sold by the Cat Fund by $12 billion – raising its total risk to a total of $28 billion. Florida home insurance companies were required to purchase this additional reinsurance from the state and to pass along the savings realized on reinsurance to home owners.As a Florida homeowner, you didn’t get the rate reductions that this law was supposed to provide. Your rate cuts never came close to the 24% predicted when the legislation passed. And to make things worse, the Florida Cat Fund took on an additional $12 billion in risk.Now the Florida Catastrophe Fund has told us that the frozen bond markets won’t be an acceptable source to raise the cash it needs to meet its commitments to the insurance companies after a major Florida hurricane. It recently estimated that it could pay out $13 billion over the next twelve months – That’s $15 billion less than the $28 billion it is on the hook to pay!What does all of this mean to you as a Florida home insurance consumer?You didn’t get the rate relief you expected and your state took on financial obligations that it has no hope of paying.You are at risk if Florida experiences a major hurricane in the next year. Once the losses of your Florida home insurance company exceed certain levels, your company will ask the Florida Cat Fund to reimburse them in order to pay your claim. Since the Florida Cat Fund is short on cash, you might have a long delay in getting your claim paid.The promise to pay your Florida home insurance claim has never been more at risk than it is today.Now that you know that the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund will not meet its obligations, let’s examine the National Catastrophe Fund idea that Florida has been bring up in Washington for years. This National Cat fund would offer an additional layer of loss protection above and beyond the obligations of the Florida Cat Fund.The theory is that a National Catastrophe Fund would be funded in part by insurance premiums paid by policyholders in states that are part of the fund. A National Cat Fund would be a separate fund that would earn interest and grow during the years when there aren’t any claims.Supporters claim that no taxpayer money would be needed to sustain a National Cat Fund. Storm history tells us there would be times that federal tax dollars would have to be used to offset major losses.And everyone knows that the federal government can’t keep its funds separate. Just ask someone in Washington to show you the billions that are supposed to be in the Social Security Trust Fund. You won’t be shown any cash – just a drawer full of T-Bills and IOU’s.Now that the Big Three Auto makers and other shameless Fortune 500 companies have beaten Florida to the punch in Washington, it is very unlikely that a National Hurricane Catastrophe Fund will pass anytime soon. The red ink in Washington will make even President Elect Obama shy away from any additional federal obligations. So don’t look to the federal government to make good on the promise that was made to pay your Florida home insurance claim.Finally, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has consistently reported that it doesn’t have anywhere near the money it needs to pay out the almost half a trillion dollars in hurricane exposure it after a major Florida hurricane.A large hurricane would mean that Citizens can’t pay even its primary obligations – those that it must pay even before losses reach levels where Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund reinsurance kicks in. And as a policyholder with Citizens, you are subject to paying higher special assessments after a major Florida hurricane than policyholders who have private homeowners insurance – special charges tacked on to your annual insurance bill.In this new brave world where even governments can’t keep their promises here are some steps you should take as a Florida home insurance consumer right now:Get a Florida wind inspection done and harden your home as much as possible.Avoid Citizens Insurance Florida if you can.Find a home insurance company that is strong financially and one that has spread its risk across both Florida and other states. Fewer policyholders will mean faster payment of your claim.Report your insurance claim the same day as the Florida hurricane. This will make it more likely that you will get paid before your insurance company looks to the Florida Cat fund for reimbursement.Last but not least. The fact that the Florida Cat Fund is short on money has not been lost on Florida home insurance companies. They are being charged for reinsurance by an entity that has publicly stated that it can’t meet its obligations. That means insurance companies are not getting what they paid for.You should expect Florida home insurance companies to try to buy more of their reinsurance in the private market and not from the State of Florida in 2009. And they will look to pass that cost through to you in the form of higher insurance rates. If they don’t get the rate increases they need, your Florida home insurance policy might be cancelled.As the Florida home insurance crisis continues, it has never been more important for you to stay on top of the Florida home insurance market for private insurance. You never know when you might have to find a new Florida home insurance carrier.Wallpaper Union