Posted On: October 19, 2007, 9:54 am CDT

Posted By: BE

I think everybody is missing something very important. The excess profits law in Florida limits insurance companies to making no more than 5% on auto insurance in Florida. If they make more, they are fined and have to refund the money to policyholders. They CANNOT use auto profits to subsidize property. Now the excess profits law applied to property insurance. When insurance companies file for rates, they are required to file based on FLORIDA. The real question to Charlie Crist, Socialist, is how much does he think other states be required to subsidize Floridians for property insurance.

Also, Allstate has subsidized their FLORIDA property customers to the tune of $3 billion over the last 70 years courtesy of Andrew and the 2005 and 2005 hurricanes. Yes, many, many years of profits... but ALL wiped out because of the occurrances of three years of hurricanes. Somehow, people (and the governor) simply don't want to let facts get in the way of their anger. The insurance industry has subsized it's Florida customers to the tune of $10 BILLION over the last 15 years.

The industry needs 20 years worth of 5% profits to rebuild the capital back to where it was. CAPITAL is the only thing that pays claims. 1 + 1 will never equal 20 no matter what the government says. Insurance companies are all about managing risk but if you cannot manage the risk, you avoid it. If you are the person with the insurance company responsible for Florida, what decision do you make when you are limited to making a small amount IF you are profitable but there is NO limit to how much money you can lose.

Politicians want quick and easy solutions... unfortunately they will only come up with political solutions... AND THAT IS WHAT'S GOTTEN US TO THE WHERE WE ARE TODAY.