Poll shows long-term solution wanted for Florida property insurance

It’s hard to find much everyone agrees on, but this may come close: Few people are particularly pleased with the homeowners insurance market in Florida – not insurers, regulators, legislators or policyholders. Floridians seem ready for long-term solutions to the property insurance issues, rather than quick fixes. This comes from a recent poll by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.  

Research findings from a poll of registered Florida voters conducted last month measured public attitudes toward business, insurance and opinion leaders, including voter preferences for governor and U.S. Senator. Voters’ top concerns are the poor economy and jobs, followed by the effects of the oil spill and improving education. So while insurance is not a current top-of-mind topic, when asked which is more important – the long-term stability of insurance rates or immediate rate relief – 72 percent said stability. More than two-thirds of those surveyed believed more competition would help fix Florida’s property insurance problems, rather than more regulation. When asked if people living in coastal areas should pay more for homeowners insurance than those who live inland, 55 percent said yes, while 42 percent said coastal residents should not pay more.

Another finding from the poll is that a majority of Florida voters – 60 percent – are unaware that the state can tax all insurance policies to subsidize the funding shortfalls in Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run insurer. That’s an improvement over the 71 percent who were unaware of so-called “hurricane taxes” back in January 2008, but still a high number. It’s not only Citizens that can levy assessments, so if you want to know more, take a look at this Florida Insurance Assessments paper. If you have property or auto insurance with a private company, rather than the state, you are paying for claims that aren’t you own – and you should know about that.