There I was, being driven in a plush limo from the airport to the exclusive Boca Raton Resort & Club, invited to make a speech on the industry's image and its impact on the bottom line before a group of insurance company financial types, when the driver, after asking why I was in town, went on to pour his heart out about how the cost of insurance is ruining his life.

The driver shared his tale of woe while he drove me to the fancy hotel where I was to address the Society of Insurance Financial Management. He said insurance was forcing him to sell his family's “nest egg”–a rental property mainly visited by tourists–because he could no longer afford the price of coverage. Many of his friends, he said, might even have to give up their primary residences, because insurance was costing more than the mortgage.

He also noted that here he was, working on a Sunday–normally his day off–to help pay for his soaring insurance bills.