Jackson County Floridan
March 6, 2011
By Morgan Carlson
Former Florida representative Don Brown spoke at the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce First Friday Breakfast this week. Brown is an insurance expert and is serving on Gov. Rick Scott’s transition team on insurance reform.
Brown said the Florida insurance market is at a crossroads.
The “stubborn human behavior” of building in dangerous places, and expecting others to pick up the tab, has lead to the current insurance problems in Florida, Brown said.
Florida has $2.5 trillion in coastal property insured,
which represent 79 percent of the exposure in the entire state. This is an out-of-balance risk portfolio, Brown said.
Florida has more coastal property insured than all the other Gulf Coast states combined. Florida also insures more than 50 percent of the nation’s wind risk, Brown said.
The biggest problems in the state aren’t natural disasters, Brown said. They are the man-made disasters, namely Florida House Bill 1A approved by former Gov. Charlie Crist in 2007.
Brown was one of two legislators to vote against the bill, which significantly expanded the role of government into the private market, specifically the insurance market.
Brown said the reforms of 2007 are not working. As a result, five insurance companies in Florida have gone bankrupt since the reforms were implemented. Brown said it’s possible things will change this year under the new administration.
Florida needs to try something different, but not overreact, Brown said, stating Florida needs to make incremental progress to reduce liability.
http://www2.jcfloridan.com/news/2011/mar/06/brown-talks-insurance-first-friday-ar-1542719/
