Insiders sound off on Florida insurance cost hikes
As home insurance prices are poised to increase sharply, the South Florida Sun Sentinel asked leading insurance experts to provide their views of the disintegrating state of the market. Here’s what they had to say. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Locke Burt, president and CEO, Security First Insurance Co.
Insurance cost drivers are well known and have been reported before — bad weather, increased reinsurance costs, shady contractors, aggressive plaintiffs bar with a favorable legal environment, water losses, fraud. What’s different is the trends seem to be accelerating and the Legislature has not done anything meaningful to change the trajectory of increased costs which, under Florida law, must be passed on to consumers in the required annual rate filings.
The private sector is shrinking and raising rates as fast as they can because the losses are not sustainable and the providers of additional investment capital simply do
