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Blogcritics Comments on Nationwide Insurance pulls out of Florida. Is anyone surprised?
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- Comment by James R Morotti on Nationwide Insurance pulls out of Florida. Is anyone surprised?
I have read a few of the comments on this page, and it seems to me that there is one point they are all missing, and that is that the State and the Insurance Companies are not using and are suppressing the free market. With the mortgage co's the State and the Insurance co's having tunnel vision they take freedom of choice away from the individual. It's a little like saying if I want cable TV, I have to also buy the Spanish channels though I don't speak Spanish. The mortgage people and the Insurance and the State decide that I must insure for mold even if my personal situation would not warrant this. Mortgage co's have escrow accounts where small amounts could be put away to cover larger and larger deductions even to the point of self insurance, or paying down principle. Who loses here and who gains. The mortgage people are protected, and have extra funds backing the loan, They could even give the mortgage holder an interest break for holding the funds. It's the free market Gentleman. Thats the answer. It's always the answer. Not corp. welfare. The insurance companies gambled and lost, if they can't handle the heat maybe they should get out of the State. Give individuals this option, and watch these Insurance people squirm. Don't let Insurance people run our states economy - Comment by Dan on Nationwide Insurance pulls out of Florida. Is anyone surprised?
Ok, The rest of the country needs to wake up. The insurance companies are pulling out of Florida; most non-Florida residents say "so what". I will reply the same as they no longer write policies for New Orleans (flooding and hurricanes), Mississippi (Hurricanes and flooding), Alabama (Hurricanes and flooding), Texas (same with tornadoes),Washington state (flooding), southern Indiana (tornadoes), Ohio (same), New England Nor'easters and blizzards), Mid West areas where there are many tornadoes, California with Wild fires, Flooding and land slides and Earthquakes, Colorado with the same!! Just about every state has issues with some kind of natural disaster, should we expect and be happy when the companies pull out of them also, will all you people be happy then also?Think about it before you reply about the insurance industries having rights to pull out, I don't disagree but don't complain when your in our situation down here and you can't insure your homes.Thanks - Comment by Sadsack Sadlek on Nationwide Insurance pulls out of Florida. Is anyone surprised?
All of the above said and done, I have one last complaint to the Florida Insurance Regulators Board. Nationwide dropped my wind and storm homeowners insurance. I still need fire and theft insurance and want to continue my liability umbrella policy. According to state law I can't do that without an underlying home owners insurance policy. How do you jerks propose I do that when Insurance companies in the state aren't writing any new homeowners insurance policies?You bad name boys sure have made a mess out of Florida Dream Retirement pie. Maybe you guys in Tallahassee can recomend an insurance co. that will write me a full coverage homeowners policy. - Comment by WSJ on Nationwide Insurance pulls out of Florida. Is anyone surprised?
ARE HURRICANES UNINSURABLE? Holman Jenkins Jr. The Wall Street Journal. 2006/06/07. Page A15. Recent historical developments such as the increasing number of terrorist attacks have prompted the insurance industry to characterize some risks as uninsurable. Recently Aon's Paul Bassett said that the global war on terrorism had greatly reduced the risk of a major terrorism operation such as the destruction of the World Trade Center. Hurricanes have become the new uninsurable risk. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates that a quarter of the coastal dwellings will be destroyed over the next 50 years. Some are calling for homeowners to fully accept the risk of coastal development, which would require that insurers be allowed to charge premiums to cover risks and that courts uphold insurance contracts. Robert Litan, an economist with the Brookings Institution, says that property owners now expect tax funds to cover major losses. Ed Liddy, the CEO of Allstate, is working to build support for a federal disaster insurance program, a proposal that has recently been endorsed by State Farm and a few other industry members. It is highly unlikely that the debate over such a proposal will be settled before the next elections. - Comment by WhatAboutStateFarm on Nationwide Insurance pulls out of Florida. Is anyone surprised?
Comment sparse on 80 percent State Farm home insurance hike - Factiva (AP) 6/5/06June 5, 2006Travis ReedThe Associated Press Lynn Martin took a day off work and drove all the way from Punta Gorda on Monday to talk about homeowner's insurance.In just under a decade, the 51-year-old has seen her State Farm premiums rise 300 percent to $1,600 this year, and that's not even including the 80 percent average rate hikes the company just requested."My income has not increased 300 percent, and please don't tell me to sell out and move out of state," Martin said at a public hearing on the request. "We really don't know how to go live somewhere else."Wearing a T-shirt that said "I survived Hurricane Charley," Martin was one of just five people who spoke Monday at two hearings to give feedback on the request from Florida's largest home insurer. State Farm is also seeking an approximately 95 percent increase on mobile home policies, nearly doubling rates for about 30,000 owners.Brian Branton, a 40-year-old purchasing agent who made the trek from Palmetto on the Gulf Coast, said he was surprised and disappointed the meetings weren't better attended. Only a handful of the roughly 300 seats set up in a hotel ballroom near Walt Disney World for the meeting were taken up - most of them by State Farm personnel.Branton said the increases would cost him the equivalent of a 13th mortgage payment."That's my driving money, that's my spending money, that's my hit," he said. "That would take a nice chunk out of my day-to-day bottom line. I'd like the state to review this."The rate increase figures are only averages, and will affect people in coastal areas more heavily. In landlocked Orange and Seminole counties, for example, it is closer to 13 percent, the company said.State Farm, which covers about one in five Florida homes, says the increase is largely due to higher costs of reinsurance - coverage bought in case insurers face enormous claims. A smaller portion of the request covers the higher cost of doing business in Florida after two devastating storm seasons and dire predictions of future catastrophe, the company says.Other insurers with the same concerns have been requesting large rate increases or refusing to renew Florida policies.If approved by state regulators, the State Farm increase would be effective Aug. 15."We want to stay in Florida, we want to write insurance and we want to keep servicing those customers that we currently have with us," said Debra Johannson, State Farm fire operations manager. "But the only way we can do that is if we can get a rate increase so we can actually pay our reinsurance bills and have the ability to pay those losses as we incur future catastrophic events."Terry Bales, 63, made the hour-and-a-half drive from Palm Bay for the second meeting, which lasted only about half an hour because just two people commented for the record.He expressed concern that Florida insurers continued dropping policyholders, further reducing the pool of people to spread risk over."If you keep reducing the number of people that are insured certainly the costs are going to go up. This rate increase doesn't surprise me," he said.In addition to the homeowner increases, State Farm is canceling about 1,500 policies held by condominium complexes, which cover roofs and other common parts of buildings but not individual units. Further, the company is dropping wind coverage for about 39,000 customers in certain coastal parts of the state, but will continue to cover other damages.Robert Wunderlich, a 63-year-old retired field engineer who lives in Winter Park, said he's paid State Farm about $200,000 over 30 years of home ownership and never made a claim. He said he wants the company to carefully consider how much it changes his bill."I'm asking State Farm to hold the line," he said. "If indeed increases continue to happen, I will ... have to reconsider what coverage I maintain, but I will also have to reconsider what company I maintain that coverage with."As for my personal comments, even an 80% increase may not be profitable with the expected level of hurricane activity predicted for this season. - Comment by Randy Jackson on Nationwide Insurance pulls out of Florida. Is anyone surprised?
Companies are in business to make money. If insuring homes in hurricane prone areas is not a money making venture for them, I would fully expect them to pull out. Companies have a duty to their customers to
