Jeb Bush hammers Crist on insurance

Source: St. Petersburg Times

In the nine months since he left office, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has kept silent on the issue of how the current governor and Legislature are handling what had become Bush's biggest challenge: the state's ongoing property insurance crisis.

That all changed this week.

And Bush, the two-term Republican, doesn't like what he sees.

Addressing insurance executives Monday as keynote speaker at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies convention outside Dallas, Bush criticized Florida's latest efforts at insurance reform - specifically a January special session bill that doubled the state's catastrophe fund to $32-billion and allowed state-backed Citizens Property Insurance to directly compete with the private market.

That is a reversal of Bush's stance when, as governor, he focused on private market solutions, no expansion of the CAT Fund or Citizens, and a state-funded program to help homeowners make their houses more hurricane resistant.

Like other critics -- mostly in the insurance industry -- of the reforms of early 2007, Bush argued that expanding Florida's role in the property insurance market will put the state at considerable financial risk if Florida is hit by one or more major hurricanes.

Such solutions "are as bad as the natural disasters themselves," Bush said, adding that "My beloved state of Florida has taken steps along that path."

Without mentioning Gov. Charlie Crist by name, Bush still took aim at the current Republican governor, who inherited the property insurance problem and has all but declared war on State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide and other large insurance companies operating in the state


Read more: /www.sptimes.com/2007/09/19/State/Jeb_Bush_hammers_Cris.shtml

I'm now pretty sure Crist is doing the right thing.

While my opinions on Jeb (see below) are less than enthusiastic, average savings on insurance probably won't pan out to more than a few hundred dollars a year, when all is said and done. Jeb's at the opposite side of this from me -- he says Tallahassee's done too much, I say they haven't done enough. The insurance industry is a cancer, especially in Florida.

2001 - Bought our house, insurance payment $981

2002 - $999

2003 - $1021

2004 - $1029, Frances and Jeanne hit my area of the state, no insurance claim

2005 - $2100, Wilma hits, had to get a new roof

2006 - $3600, Poe goes out of business, all I could get was Citizens

2007 - $3400, THAT's my savings....

They are NOT doing enough.

when it comes time for them to give back, they do everything in their power to avoid it.

Insurance was $991

It is now approaching $6500

Almost every common man and woman I know are wanting to leave Florida. We're covered by Citizens Insurance but if we get hit bad there is no way the state has enough money to pay massive claims. So, we are paying premiums knowing that if the worst happens we STILL won't get our property paid for. Its a mess!!

Not sure about how we would sell out house here though.

It's a shame when people start thinking about moving half way across the country because their mortgage is choking them, even with a fixed rate. Just paying back the escrow sucks in a major way.

I feel for you. I'm glad I never had to do $6500. Had several friends that did, though, including one that doesn't have an escrow account and had to take out a loan to pay the insurance.

When I opened my dental practice in Miami (mid 90s) catastrophic storm insurance was about $1,600. now its slightly over $16,000. Same thing happened with rent.

There's a war on against small biz, while the big businesses get the breaks.

in 1988 to $170.00 per month with a 2% dedictible and lots less coverage today. And I didn't ask for any of those changes in my policy. They were mandated by the state and the insurance companies.

My first thought on seeing the headline was, "If Jeb Bush says that, the Gov. Crist must be doing something right."

do that with impunity any longer.

Florida simply does not have the capital to pay for all of the damage they're insuring for. If a hurricane wipes out Miami they're going to go whining to the Feds to bail them out. $32 billion isn't going to fix much of anything.

yet the insurance rates have not dropped one bit. In fact, mine went up by almost 10% even though I'm nowhere near the coast and have never filed any claim of any kind.

What Jeb Bush did to my state in his years in Tallahassee is abhorrent to everything that good government stands for. He destroyed every state program he could lay his hands on, to the point where congresspeople were staging sit-ins in his office -- congresspeople, for God's sake! Can you imagine Nancy Pelosi staging a sit-in in the White House?

I'm currently reading the definitive biography of Jeb's years as governor, Jeb: America's Next Bush, by the Palm Beach Post's political reporter, S.V. Date. After just a couple chapters, you know everything you need to know about this overprivileged, aristocratic douchebag. There has not been a single moment of his life in which he has held the interests of American citizens in his heart. His opinion, on Crist, insurance, or anything else, isn't worth gutter piss.

i hate jeb...the condo i have is right on the gulf..and our condo couldn't even get insurance and we have had to pay assessments the past two years..of $5,000. for my condo..alone..just to get a crappy insurance company to insure the building..

we can't even get personal hurricane insurance..privately for our condo.

Jeb is a bottom feeder of scum...he is a complete mtf'er!

fly

'insurance'. FL is unsustainable with FOR PROFIT insurance.

Thanks to his simian sibling the name * will live in infamy forever.

"Insurance rates have to increase dramatically, and I'm willing to be the point man on the issue".

Any sewer of extreme, right-wing, free market ideology flows between this guys ears.

Beware of Jeb. He's the most dangerous of the BFEE. He has a functioning brain. Even if it is evil.

puts him up for Veep.