Jul 20, 2007 9:40 pm US/Eastern
Homeowner Insurance Problems Have Not Gone Away
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MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Critics say Florida's homeowners insurance crisis is still a major problem going from bad to worse.
Miami Shores resident Bill Haney can't afford his home anymore: high property taxes, and higher insurance bills have forced him to sell.
"My homeowner's insurance has become severe, catastropic in that a few years ago I was paying $2,500, $3,000 a year in insurance premiums," Haney said. "This year my Citizens went up to $4,600 a year, but that was with a very high deductible."
Haney said he checked the Florida Department's new Web site for insurance rates, called
Shop And Compare Rates, which the governor said would help people find reasonable home insurance rates. He found the rates did not help his situation.
"I went there and called the insurance companies that were listed who charged less than Citizens, and I actually had home inspections and went through the whole process. But by the time I applied, I was told they weren't writing windstorm insurance."
To compound further problems, State Farm, the state's largest private carrier, announced this week it would cut 50,000 coastal polices.
Mark Jacobson, a senior vice president at HBA Insurance Group, said, "State Farm has too much capacity in certain areas, too much risk. They've made a business decision to do it."
The problems are mounting. On Friday, the state rejected a rate hike request of 30% from two Florida farm bureau companies.
In the past, insurers have filed for arbitration and in almost all cases, their rate hike requests were approved. The call for a national catastrophe fund to help spread the cost of disaster insurance nationwide is stalled in Congress.
The consumer has to make hard choices on insurance coverage and strategies on how to lower rates by making your home stronger from storm damage. The state has a Web site called
My Safe Florida Home.The Insurance Consumer Advocate is also committed to finding solutions to insurance issues facing Floridians.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
State Farm To Drop 50,000 Homeowners' Policies
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