Posted On: January 26, 2005, 2:23 pm CST

Posted By: James

I was selling insurance in FL in 1992 when Andrew hit and necessitated (?) the formation of the FRPCJUA (which has since continued to be one of the largest insurers), I never understood why the state got into the insurance business. Since then, it's changed its name several times, but the problem continues (and appears to be getting worse). At that time, I thought that if AllState insured 30% of the homes in FL, it should be required to write 30% of the "assigned risk" business; if State Farm wrote 25%, it should be required to write 25%. They should not be allowed to pick and choose which policies to "take out" of the pool. If companies want to continue to write business in FL, they should be required to write assigned risk business. The percentages could be adjusted annually. If Citizens is supposed to have higher rates than the standard carriers, the companies should be able to make money by writing the business at their own rates. This would also do away with the threat of "assessments" when Citizens loses money. As it is, the standard insureds are going to end up subsidizing the Citizens busines anyway. Couldn't they implement the assigned risk program and faze out Citizens over the next five to ten years? Florida is just a different state; a lot of things don't make sense.