Florida’s insurance commissioner faced a question this week that many homeowners in the state have been asking.
“Do you have an estimated time when we can tell them they can start getting some relief?” asked state Rep. Marie Paule Woodson, D-Hollywood.
The question came during a hearing of the House Banking and Insurance Subcommittee in Tallahassee.
“We recognise that there hasn’t been an immediate lever to improve the market both in the short term and the long term,” said Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky, explaining that it is difficult to put a date on when rate relief will arrive.
Woodson and others on the subcommittee said they were still hearing from people back home.
“I’ve been out knocking on doors recently, talking to a lot of constituents, and the No. 1 question is, ‘What are you going to do to bring down or balance premiums in Florida?” said state Rep. Tom Fabricio, R-Miami Lakes.
Reforms passed last year by Republicans who control the Capitol are designed to curb rampant litigation in Florida’s insurance industry, attract more insurers and bring more competition to the market.
Yaworsky said one positive step is that five new companies will be writing policies in the state.
“These companies are well capitalised,” he said. “That’s what we’re looking for, the scenario we want, capital coming into the state. We need capital in the state. This is not the wild, wild west.”
