Posted On: June 23, 2009, 9:13 pm CDT

Posted By: >>>>

Where does one start to respond to this rambling. The one thing you did get right is we all do pay.

Shame on State Farm and other carriers for fighting fraud and standing behind the contract they sell to their clients. Fraud is the largest variable effecting everyones rates. Trent Lott's home was wiped off the slab and pushed into the bay behind him by a 30ft wall of water...Not wind...I personally handled over 1000 hurricane Charley claims and not one home disappeared from 140+ mph winds. Lott was promptly paid 350k under his NFIP policy but that wasn't enough. He made a fool of himself publicly, and his famed attorney brother-in-law Dickie Scruggs is in jail for fraud... All of Lott's federal investigations into Sf, Allstate etc. revealed nothing. Most if not all of the early judgments against the industry are being overturned everyday.

As for the remainder of the disputed Katrina claims, less than 1% of the total files claims, those problems could all be avoided by mandating everyone carry flood insurance = to the value of their home. The fed's put high value homes at risk by not offering higher limits of coverage. Not the ins industry. Why you ask, its too expensive for them to offer higher limits. So people take their chances and run without excess flood. They rolled the dice and lost.

Policy contracts are all reviewed and approved OIR's in each state. The problem is after the fact when insurance contracts don't meet public expectations and people are living on the streets, someone has to pay. Deep pockets will always be targeted. This is way the big boys are leaving the high risk areas. Not worth the media attacks and neg public opinion when claim settlements don't go in the consumers favor.

Profits and salaries have nothing to do with the contracts the insurance industry offer. SF sits on 50+ billion in cash. At 5% interest every year, they should have profits in excess of 2.5 billion, without an underwriting profit, each and every year... Anything less than that is a bad year...

The SF handles 36k claims every day... This doesn't include cat losses. Do some fall through the cracks and people not get taken care of to everyone's expectations..Sure...Is it right, no. Can it be avoided, sure. Day in and day out they do a better job than most. This is reflected in the fact that they have 50 million policyholders nationwide. This isn't by accident.

Back on point, people need the option in Florida to choose between multiple insurance options. If someone wants to factor into their decision making process your rambling, then let's go ahead, pass the bill and see what happens.