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Insurance rates might be too low

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 16, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - Companies offering hurricane and other property insurance coverage may need to raise rates because they're losing money, even though Florida hasn't had any serious storms in the past couple years, the state insurance commissioner said Tuesday.

Commissioner Kevin McCarty told Gov. Charlie Crist and Florida Cabinet members, who oversee his office, that 84 companies writing policies in the state had underwriting gains in the first six months of the year, compared with 102 that had losses.

McCarty said some cost-drivers are outside the state's control, including backup coverage called reinsurance that companies purchase on the global market. Losses elsewhere around the world have driven up reinsurance costs, he said.

Other factors include rising fraud, duplication in applying discounts to some policies, the expense of investigating sinkhole damage claims and the worldwide recession.

The Associated Press

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