tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555356.post4438303978884800737..comments2017-11-13T19:20:33.117-05:00Comments on What's an actuary?: WSJ weighs in on Florida insurance situationALDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11671975784503809433noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555356.post-5750252712369892852007-04-26T12:19:00.000-04:002007-04-26T12:19:00.000-04:00Further comments from DVD:Also check out the FIC's...Further comments from DVD:<BR/><BR/>Also check out the FIC's 2/13 petition:<BR/>http://www.doah.state.fl.us/docdoc/2007/000746/07000746M-021307-16013801.PDF<BR/><BR/>The Legal Smackdown begins on page 6.<BR/><BR/>What's interesting to note here is Crist's emergency order is an attempt to strong arm the industry into doing his bidding. He wanted to regulate via emergency order. This is not the way to attract new insurance companies into the state. <BR/><BR/>If the original rule was declared invalid, you probably would have seen massive non-renewals by the larger insurance companies to try to reduce their exposure.<BR/><BR/>If I ran an insurance company, I wouldn't want to write in a state that that a quasi-governmental insurance company (Citizen's) with competitive rates and a governor that wants to dictate that I cannot reduce my exposure or set actuarially sounds rates. <BR/><BR/>[Rant]<BR/>Arrgh! Are there any real conservatives left? What happened to deregulation and smaller government?ALDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11671975784503809433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555356.post-57835904240249625332007-04-26T12:17:00.000-04:002007-04-26T12:17:00.000-04:00Comments from DVD:I'm glad that I'm not the only o...Comments from DVD:<BR/><BR/>I'm glad that I'm not the only one who sees this populist in conservative's sheep's clothing.<BR/><BR/>Also note that Crist's emergency order was "clarified" (i.e. altered) after the Florida Insurance Counsel filed suit stating that the context method of Crist's use of the emergency order was not provided for in law and various other things.<BR/><BR/>Rather than let a judge rule on the validity of the original request (Which prohibited companies from non-renewing risks for any reason) and potentially take an embarrassing loss, Chist altered the order in a way that allowed insurance companies to non-renew their book if they refilled their rates. The FIC, in turn, dropped their suit.<BR/><BR/>Also, by the way, every Florida homeowners policy has to pay a fee to cover the Citizen's fiscal shortcomings. In addition, every P&C policy in florida (includes auto and liability policies) has to pay a 1% fee to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe fund.<BR/><BR/>It makes me almost regret not voting for Gallagher (ugh).ALDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11671975784503809433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555356.post-88092740366669698092007-04-26T10:46:00.000-04:002007-04-26T10:46:00.000-04:00In the interest of equal time, the blathering popu...In the interest of equal time, the blathering populist response from Gov. Crist:<BR/><BR/>Insurance Monolith Threatened Florida<BR/><BR/>In response to your April 20 editorial "Florida's Folly": Like Theodore Roosevelt, I believe an elected chief executive, as a servant of the people, must and should responsibly wield the power of office to further the common good and improve the lives of all citizens. So it follows, my response as Florida's governor to our state's insurance crisis places people before profits.<BR/><BR/>When I took office this January, Florida faced a daunting challenge: Either confront head on the monolithic insurance industry, or stand by and watch her citizens and her economy buckle under the oppressive weight of a deepening crisis. For many years prior to my inauguration, insurance companies claimed the risks were too great and the rates simply too low in Florida. But during that same time, those companies had been raising rates at unprecedented levels (some, by 50%, others, by more than 500%) and shedding the higher-risk (and more abundant) coastal properties.<BR/><BR/>Indeed, contrary to recent reports, the plans of Allstate, Nationwide and others to abandon Florida policyholders were set in motion well prior to my arrival. Those policyholders landed in the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, which by last December ballooned to more than 1.3 million policies and $400 billion in exposure. Yet even while the private market risk profile improved at taxpayer expense, private market rates (and corresponding profits) continued to soar. In the past two years alone, the insurance industry has banked more than $100 billion in profits.<BR/>Left unchecked, the insurance industry would have set Florida on a collision course with fiscal ruin. Moreover, they would have deprived many Floridians of the American dream of home ownership and the hope of a secure, affordable quality of life. Recognizing the industry was unwilling to self-police and that inaction was not an option, I worked with Florida's leaders in a bipartisan way to enact reforms that use government's fiscal and regulatory stimulus to induce a more competitive free market.<BR/><BR/>Under the new law, Florida expanded its Catastrophic Fund to provide lower cost reinsurance to the insurance industry, allowing them to lower the rates they charge to policyholders. Far from an abandonment of the free market, this responsible solution both lowers rates and induces free-market competition. Consumers get immediate reductions in premiums -- albeit differential reductions, depending on the company and the property location -- and consumers get more choices once reinsurance savings are reflected in the rate structure.<BR/><BR/>Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was also reformed to address both the availability and affordability of insurance. The Citizens' reforms will likewise result in lower rates and more competitive choices. Indeed, Floridians are already starting to see lower rates as well as new entrants to the market. Of course if the ill wind blows, there will be costs. Nevertheless, had responsible action not been taken, Florida would have been forced to bear both those costs, along with the staggering costs of economic decline that would have come with inaction.<BR/><BR/>While I applaud and welcome the motivation of business to profit, I will not abide profiteering on the backs of the people. Perhaps in time, the insurance industry will return to competitive free-market behavior without the need for government intervention or stimulus. In the interim, this responsible, bipartisan approach to a crisis threatening both personal quality of life and continued economic expansion was and is the only right thing to do. The "Trust Buster" would have done no less.<BR/><BR/>Charlie Crist<BR/>Governor, State of Florida<BR/>Tallahassee, FLALDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11671975784503809433noreply@blogger.com