Friday, July 30, 2010
| Make Florida More Hurricane-Resistant
published: Sep 28, 2009
by: Eli Lehrer and John Hallman
As hurricane-ridden September passes by, much of the news in Florida appears good: Hurricanes, so far, have stayed away from U.S. coastlines, the Legislature has passed a few common-sense reforms to the state's property insurance system and state CFO Alex Sink says that the state's troubled Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (Cat Fund) has gained a firmer fiscal footing. more... |
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| A catastrophe waiting to happen
published: Sep 15, 2009
by: Jonathan Orszag
This month marks the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. That raises a simple question: Are we prepared as a Nation for the next mega-catastrophe (one, perhaps, worse than Katrina) that will inevitably strike our country? more... |
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| The Meltdown Next Time: The financial danger nobody knows about.
published: Sep 12, 2009
by: Eli Lehrer
When the insurance giant American International Group was threatened with collapse in late 2008, its credit default swap business and other international operations were cited as the heart of its troubles. But the largest consequence of AIG's uncontrolled failure on consumers' pocketbooks could have come from the domino-like collapse of its businesses writing insurance on boats, cars, homes, lives, and just about everything else. If these businesses fell apart as a result of AIG's overall collapse, the argument went, the contagion could have brought a collapse of everything from retirement savings plans to auto insurance claims payments from companies unconnected to AIG. (In theory, the operations were firewalled from AIG's other operations, but the extremely slow rate at which they've found buyers indicates that many had significant exposure to the company's other woes.) more... |
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CEI Florida Insurance Project Director Lauds Legislative Action on Proctor Bill |
by: Christian Cámara, 305-608-4300
published: Apr 17, 2009
HB 1171 Is a Step in the Right Direction, CEI Says
Washington, D.C.— The Florida House of Representatives Policy Committee on Insurance, Business, and Financial Affairs today unanimously approved HB 1171 – the first major market-freeing insurance reform since 2007. The bill, which still must pass the full House and Senate, would significantly expand the availability of property insurance throughout Florida.
The proposal – proffered by Rep. William Proctor (R-St. Augustine) – would allow insurers to bypass the state's current rate regulation process and therefore make themselves immune from the potentially enormous assessments that could arise if the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation should it find itself unable to pay claims following a major hurricane strike. Citizens, a state agency, serves as the largest provider of property insurance in Florida.
''The passage of this legislation would truly be a positive step toward a real free market solution to Florida's insurance crisis,'' said Christian Cámara, Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Florida Insurance Project. ''Many Floridians would prefer to have the choice of staying with their insurance provider of many years rather than lose them to onerous bureaucratic regulations. This proposal eases those regulations and encourages private companies to return or stay in Florida, thereby giving consumers more choices when it comes to insuring their homes.''
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CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.
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