Aug 29, 2007 9:13 pm US/Eastern
Homeowners Feel Pinch With Insurance Firms
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MIAMI LAKES (CBS4) ―
Alex Gonzalez of Miami Lakes is one of the latest victims to be dropped by one property insurance company and picked up by another.
He's seen his homeowner's insurance bill almost triple in three years. It was in January, when Florida lawmakers promised to fix this problem.
Nationwide, the state's fifth largest property insurer, announced on Tuesday it was not renewing about 39,000 homeowner policies and 1600 commercial property policies starting January 2008.
The company will begin notifying affected policyholders in September, and said it will concentrate on auto and other commercial lines.
Nationwide has said it paid more than $1 billion in property damage claims during 2004 and 2005, when eight hurricanes affected the state.
The move adds to the list of more than 100,000 other Floridians who have been dropped by insurance companies since the first of the year.
State Representative Julio Robaina is drafting a proposal aimed at preventing insurers from dropping more customers.
It would require companies who offer auto insurance to offer more homeowner policies.
In Washington, Congressman Ron Klein, a Florida democrat, is backing a proposal before Congress for a federally funded re-insurance program, which would require insurance companies to pass along savings from cheaper federal disaster coverage directly to consumers in the form of lower rates.
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