Charlie Crist latest veto to destroy property-insurance market in Florida

Charlie Crist, current Governor of Florida, who is now running for the United States Senate as a No Party affiliation has done it again -- he vetoed a bill that would have required every property-insurance company doing business in Florida to have the money in reserve to pay off the claims. Shame on the legislature for wanting to ensure that all insurance companies had the money to pay off claims before selling property-insurance policies in Florida. (sarcasm)

This is unfathomable that Crist would veto this bill he worked on with the legislature but since he became Governor, Charlie Crist has been out to destroy the property-insurance market in Florida. "Why?" and "What is in it for Charlie" are questions asked by many Floridians.

Charlie Crist's veto ensures we'll face insurance woes

June 03, 2010By Mike Thomas, COMMENTARY

Charlie Crist has put the finishing touches on his four-year campaign to destroy the property-insurance market in Florida.

And just in time for what is expected to be a wham-bam hurricane season.

Crist vetoed a bill that would have required all these strip-mall insurance companies setting up shop in Florida to have enough money to pay claims.

We learn more about the Crist veto from the Orlando Sentinel that makes this veto even more disgusting. With a huge hurricane season predicted, this veto could have a large impact as many of these strip mall insurance operations have no money to pay off in good times. Where are they going to get the money if there is a bad hurricane season?

Crist vetoed a bill that would have required all these strip-mall insurance companies setting up shop in Florida to have enough money to pay claims.

They are so thinly bankrolled that they have been losing money and going belly-up even without hurricanes. We live in the riskiest state in the nation with the most under-capitalized insurance market in the nation.

If the winds huff and puff and blow your house down, your insurer may or may not be able to make good on your policy.

This could leave you scrambling for a bailout from a bankrupt state, which itself will be scrambling for a bailout from a bankrupt federal government that will be scrambling for a bailout from the Chinese.

Crist, a candidate for U.S. Senate, is gambling this will not happen before the November election so people won't understand the consequences of his actions before voting.

The punch line is that Crist's office worked with legislators on the bill. His insurance commissioner endorsed it, as did the state's insurance consumer advocate.

But then Charlie went rogue, dumped the Republican Party and began using his veto pen as a campaign prop.

Instead of tightening up insurance regulations which Charlie Crist worked with the Florida Legislature to do with this bill, the opposite has happened since the Crist veto. Regulations on these strip mall insurance companies have now been relaxed. How much did these strip mall companies donate to the Charlie Crist's Senate campaign? When these strip mall insurance companies cannot pay off homeowner claims when a hurricane hits Florida, then voters need to remember that their current Governor is responsible by vetoing a bill that would have required them to have reserves on hand to pay off claims.

Major insurance companies have been pulling out of Florida due to the number of hurricane insurance claims with more 'fly by night' companies taking their place with essentially no reserve to pay claims. Some have gone bankrupt without a hurricane so Florida homeowners need to be very careful where they buy their insurance.

Charlie Crist in order to score points with the strip mall insurance industry has put the residents of Florida at risk if a major hurricane does hit by this veto. At least he no longer is a Republican because his actions are more like a Democrat. Crist has no core values and goes with who donates the most money. Vetoing a bill he originally wanted says it all. This latest by Crist putting property owners at risk if a hurricane hits, may be one of the lowest things that Crist has done yet.

Charlie Crist would make a horrible Senator but then he is a friend of Barrack Hussein Obama so that should tell us all we need to know. Crist scammed voters for years saying he was a conservative but now the true Crist comes out of the closet -- he is no Republican conservative -- he is an opportunist. The only Republican Conservative in the race is former Speaker of the Florida House, Marco Rubio, who had Crist pegged as not being a conservative from Day One. Rubio has been proven correct.

A friendly reminder of where Charlie Crist stands:

FL property insurance: turning a blind eye is not reform
by Michelle Minton
June 15, 2010

While deregulation is always a good thing, we shouldn’t be fooled into believing that the recent news that Florida’s office of insurance regulation has “relaxed their standards of solvency” is anything akin to deregulation or reform. Insurance companies, property owners, and taxpayers remain in a situation as precarious as a beachfront home in the middle of hurricane season.

Insurance companies in the state of Florida will now be allowed to continue operating despite having a level of funds that previously would have had their license to operate revoked. What this means is an insurance company that by industry standards (you know, the standards that actually reflect the reality of a situation) doesn’t have enough money to pay their customers in the event of a reasonably likely hurricane season, is perfectly fine by the new standards of the Floridian government.

This news comes on the heels of a veto vote by governor, Charlie Crist on a measure that would have allowed insurers to charge higher rates (a measure he worked on and supported prior to his separation with the Republican party). Allowing insurance companies to charge the rates they want would have allowed them to rebuild their underfunded coffers–the one thing that would actually represent a real step toward reforming Florida’s insurance market.

So, while it is great that the state won’t step in and shut down companies, insurers in Florida are no less prepared to weather a bad hurricane season and just as likely to find themselves needing state assistance to pay claims after a storm. And because the state has an underfunded catastrophe fund the very likely event of a bad hurricane season could send the state of Florida begging for money from the federal government and every taxpayer in the country to pay for beach homeowners who have been paying too little for insurance for too many years.

Source: Open Market.org