LTE – The Wall Street Journal
by Citizens Chairman James Malone
February 28, 2011
As chairman of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. board of governors, I applaud The Wall Street Journal for highlighting the urgency for reforming Florida’s property-insurance market (“Waiting for Hurricane Charlie (Crist),” Review & Outlook, Feb. 23).
A healthy and profitable property insurance market is essential to the future of Florida’s economy and Citizens Property Insurance Corp. wants to be a part of that solution. A healthy insurance market will have to ultimately be the result of private-market capital and private-market policies—not government solutions.
The size and exposure of Citizens is a direct reflection of the health (or lack thereof) of the private market. Citizens was created as the insurer of last resort, and it should once again function as the market of last resort. As chairman, I fully support initiatives aimed at making Citizens noncompetitive with the private market.
The sooner we get back to a healthy private market, the better. None of us knows when the next “big one” will hit Florida. The time to reform the Florida market is now.
James Malone
Chairman
Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
Tallahassee, Fla.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703842004576163054205180380.html
