Limited options

Sunday, September 3, 2006

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Hurricane damage is forcing homeowners policies sky high.

There isn't one perfect solution to the state insurance crisis. But if the state doesn't find one soon, one insurance professional said Florida's future looks gloomy.

"It's mind boggling what's happening in our industry, and it's going to affect everybody in the state of Florida," Elsie Wren with Bay Insurors said.

All the wonders of living in Florida also come with some worry. Homeowners are facing what seems to be ever-increasing insurance rates and some are being dropped by their companies altogether.

"The companies didn't lose that much during the hurricane, so I don't understand their reasoning," Wren said.

Wren said she spends most of her day shopping insurance companies to find the best quotes for her clients.

"A lot of people are going bare now," Wren said. "They don't have coverage. They cannot afford it. You have people on a fixed income."

Is there a solution? In our exclusive Bay News 9 poll, viewers were asked, "What do you think would be the best solution to Florida's homeowners insurance crisis?"

More than half think all insurance companies should be forced to write

Wren, who studies insurance quotes, said companies didn't lose much during hurricanes.

homeowners. Wren doesn't think that solution would work.

"I don't think that's the way to get companies to write," Wren said. "I think a lot of companies would leave the state of Florida."

Far below those who think all companies should write homeowners are those who think the state run Citizens Insurance company should be abolished for private companies.

Even fewer viewers think the state should help fund Citizens Insurance. Less than 10 percent think state funds should help fund private companies and the remainder are undecided.

Whatever the solution, something has to happen soon. Otherwise, Wren said, Floridians won't be left with many options.

"If things keep going like they are with companies raising their rates, Citizens is going to be the only company writing homeowners and we just pay what we have to," Wren said.

Wren added the insurance crisis isn't affecting only homeowners. Businesses are feeling it, too. She recently wrote a policy that went from $2,800 last year to almost $12,000 this year.

PMR Incorporated of Washington, D.C., conducted our viewers poll. Likely voters from the seven Bay area counties were surveyed. The margin of error is plus or minus five percent.