State CFO Alex Sink discusses Florida's property insurance plan
Two weeks after Alex Sink was sworn into office as Florida's new chief financial officer, lawmakers embarked on a 10-day special session to come up with ways of lowering insurance rates and providing some respite for the state's beleaguered homeowners. "I was still trying to find the ladies room," recalled Sink during an interview with the Miami Herald last week. The end result of the special session was the expansion of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund to $28 billion, allowing insurers to buy less expensive back-up insurance. This special session, in conjunction with more recently passed insurance legislation expanding Citizens, came with promises of savings to policyholders, with rate cuts averaging 20 percent or so. Six months later, the promised savings have not materialized -- as a matter of fact in recent weeks atleast five homeowner insurance groups have filed requests for rate increases. With more requests for rate increases inevitable, Sink, Crist, and other state officials are left questioning the viability of Florida's plan to reduce property insurance premiums.
