Florida is probably the state most vulnerable to climate change due to its low elevation in some places, susceptibility to hurricanes in all places and eroding limestone (see photo below) all over the place. And, the state is also a mecca for fraud. That toxic combination puts the state in deep doo-doo. Things there are getting really interesting.
Oops, limestone eroded, crud!
Mabel!! Get the shovel, a bucket and the chopsticks!
We've got some cleaning up to do, darn it!
One of Florida’s largest home insurers is exiting the market, leaving thousands of homeowners scrambling to find new coverage as options continue to dwindle in the Sunshine State.
United Property & Casualty Insurance Company, based in St. Petersburg, announced Thursday that it filed a plan of withdrawal in Florida and also plans to exit three other states.
It comes right in the middle of hurricane season and amid an exodus of companies from the market.
“The situation we’re seeing today with UPC is another chapter in the downfall of Florida’s private insurance market,” Mark Friedlander, the Florida spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, said.
Friedlander calls Florida’s property insurance market the “most volatile in the U.S.” and says virtually every homeowner in Florida will be impacted, either scrambling to find coverage, or those who have coverage paying more for what they have.
Coconut Creek insurance agent Dustyn Shroff said the insurance market in Florida has “collapsed.”
“Citizens Insurance, the company of last resort, was not designed to take on this many policies,” Shroff said. “As a local insurance agent, we find out about these cancellations at the same time the homeowner does.”“We had a good amount of time to find other insurance, however, they won’t insure us because our roof is too old,” Lavina said. “We signed a contract to have our roof done, but we were told ‘supplies are delayed’ and it will take months until it’s done. Unfortunately, we are now under hazard insurance with our mortgager which of course is not ideal given our limited income at this time.”
David Quinones started a Facebook group for Floridians dropped by their homeowners’ insurance. It’s called Forced Out Florida.
“I’ve been dropped by my homeowners insurance effective in July and was also refused by Citizens because of an arbitrary rule they passed in February disallowing new policies if the dwelling has ever had more than two non-weather related water claims,” Quinones said. “So we are truly locked out of the market and our mortgage and home itself is imperiled.”
Friedlander said Florida’s elevated hurricane risk isn’t to blame for the crisis.
“We look down the road in Louisiana and see they’ve had seven storms strike the state in the last few years, Florida has had no direct strikes,” he said. “So you can’t blame hurricanes. This is 100% a man-made crisis driven by years of rampant risk fraud replacement schemes and excessive litigation filed against insurers.”
Friedlander zeroed in on roof repair fraud.
“Roof repair fraud schemes are the fuel that’s lighting the fire behind the rampant litigation being filed against Florida property insurers,” he said.
Fortunately for the citizens of Florida, they have Republican politicians to look to for help. The usual help those folks provide is advice to stop whining and pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
Sooner or later, a big climate change-fueled storm will hit Florida. Why is it that one gets the feeling that in the next few years, US taxpayers and the evil federal government are probably going to wind up paying billions to the fine citizens of Florida so they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps with our money? Nah, that would never happen. Would it?
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