There was an interesting proposal coming out of local panel in Largo, Florida yesterday. Imagine coastal states like South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi – and of course, Florida – all banding together to fund each others’ hurricane losses.

That was one proposed solution to Florida’s insurance crisis discussed Thursday at a meeting of the governor’s Property and Casualty Insurance Reform Committee.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said he had received a letter from Gov. Jeb Bush indicating that some states had expressed interest in the idea of a coastal states catastrophe fund.

Several other proposals aimed at fixing the state’s insurance crisis were discussed during the all-day meeting at the St. Petersburg College EpiCenter Collaborative Lab in Largo. The insurance reform committee, chaired by Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings, has been meeting around the state since it was created by Bush in June. The panel will present its initial findings to the governor no later than Nov. 15.

Another proposal was one introduced by state Sen. Steven Geller, D-Hallandale Beach, and State Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, called for the state to assume the first layer of risk on homes – say the initial $50,000 or $100,000 of damages – and let private companies cover the rest.

It is good to see the Governors panel working to come up with ideas on this crisis. His administration was the one that has failed to protect the states citizens from this as it was happening. They are the one’s that allowed this massive increases and coming up with solutions is important.

But one thing that I have noticed is that they are not coming up with solution that will require the stretching of all of our budgets, included the state treasury. As an example of why this is a problem please look at the following few links to off site articles.

There are others. The insurance companies will tell you that these are not profits from the state of Florida, these are profits from the parent company, or these are profits from the non-Florida parts of the company. Well isn’t that what insurance is for? Some people have losses, some don’t, and the insurance company is betting that they will have more wins then losses. They continue to raise Florida rates while pushing the profits from our premiums to the mother ship out of state hording it for their board of directors. Let them help to fix our problem.

Been to a local town hall or local community meeting on the Insurance Crisis? Please let us know how it went, what was said, and what elected officials said in your area. Let us make them accountable for their actions and words at the polls.

If you would like to comment, there is a section below or you can email us at info@floridainsurancecrisis.com