Judd Legum: What happened while Ron DeSantis was fighting the culture wars

[Nevilledog]

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https://popular.info/p/what-happened-while-ron-desantis

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has had a busy year. He has enacted legislation prohibiting teachers from acknowledging the existence of LGBTQ people. He has banned private businesses from conducting trainings about racial bias. And he has flown dozens of migrants from San Antonio, Texas to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, under false pretenses.

But while DeSantis was fighting the culture wars and positioning himself for a future presidential run, he has failed to meaningfully address one of the state's biggest problems: its dysfunctional and collapsing property insurance market.

Florida's property insurance system was in crisis even though the state had not been struck by a major hurricane since 2018. Then Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida's west coast, killing at least 74 people and inflicting tens of billions of dollars in property damage. Things are about to get much worse.

Florida property faces catastrophic risks from weather events that worsen each year due to climate change. For years, many of the nation's major insurers have wanted little to do with covering property in Florida. Currently, State Farm covers 8% of Florida’s home insurance market, but "no other major national insurer has more than 4%."

That leaves Floridians reliant on thinly-capitalized local insurers with very high rates. Floridians pay an average of "$4,231 a year per [property insurance] policy, compared to a US average of $1,544." Premiums have increased as much as 30% per year. Nevertheless, these companies are having a hard time surviving. In the last five years, six Florida insurance companies have gone out of business "without responding to a hurricane, and four more are in the process of liquidation."

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[MOMFUDSKI]

1. The rethugs have ruled Florida for YEARS

and done nothing about insurance rates. We dropped our condo insurance about 12 years ago. They wanted $1600/year for just the INSIDE of our 1000 sq ft condo. At the same time the Condo Assoc was pumping out roughly $200/mo per unit for insurance that will (on paper) rebuild the buildings to the inside walls. That translated to $4000/year to cover a small condo! We have saved all that money which will pay for the guts if needs be. OR we can just sell the shell and move on with that $50K. Insurance will now become even more expensive. Allstate and State Farm, years ago, decided they would not write property but would still write auto and the state allowed them to do that. When I inquired about a "renter's policy" to cover the stuff inside my condo they said no can do. I argued that I could rent my condo out and they would write for my renter. They had no sane answer, of course. Thieves.