They Say, Hearsay
We have a state-run insurer in Florida that has the largest slice of the property insurance pie. While some think that's a big problem, I know it's the best deal in town, so what's the fuss all about? Other states probably have something just like Citizens Property Insurance Corp., and since it works here, it must work in the other states that get hit by hurricanes.

We Say
With apologies to the fine folks who work at Citizens, their large piece of the pie may one day hit us all in the face with a plate full of assessments. Citizens' premiums are inadequate to cover losses from a major storm, which makes nearly everyone with a property and casualty insurance policy vulnerable to “hurricane taxes” that last for years. Other states may have recognized the dangers of that earlier because no other state has anything like the behemoth Citizens. Leaders from neighboring coastal states call it Florida's folly to grow what is, essentially, socialized property insurance.

At a recent meeting, insurance commissioners from several other Southern states participated in a panel discussion on their state initiatives. The consensus was that no state needs to be in the insurance business. Florida, however, is into it deeply — up to its eyeballs with both Citizens and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund — and absent measures to curb the growth of what was intended to be the “insurer of last resort” and a less-costly reinsurance facility, we may wind up submerged.