The Florida Insurance Ripoff Continues.

New rate-hike requests show insurance special session was a flat-out failure. As soon as the legislature's January special session on insurance was over, it became increasingly obvious it was a sham.

Since then, despite promises from Gov, Charlie Crist that rates would drop by 25%, they've been rising, not falling.

When insurers claimed costs were soaring because reinsurance cost so much, lawmakers in the session added $12 billion in Floridians' money to a fund for cheap reinsurance.

So what happened? After doubling and tripling rates, at least 13 insurers so far have told the Office of Insurance Regulation they want increases so big they easily negate the average 12% cuts made earlier.

If approved, Auto-Owners Insurance, for example, would get a 35% increase, and Sentry Insurance and astounding 72% hike.

Senate Banking and Insurance Committed chairman Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, was a leader in the risk-for-rates swap. Now he says the requests are "obscene."

So what are he, Crist and other lawmakers going to do about it?

Rates are already severely hurting families and the real estate market. All it will take now is one big hurricane for rates to become entirely unaffordable.

Unless regulators rein in insurers hard and fast, it's inevitable the state will have to set up a voluntary, not-for- profit windstorm pool.

Meanwhile, in case you didn't know it already, you've been had.

Source: June 29, 2007 Florida Today Editorial

I've said it here many times, cutting property taxes that will result in the loss of government jobs for thousands of people statewide is not the issue we should be facing. Its the high insurance premiums.