Sinkholes are Florida's latest insurance crisis. - OrlandoSentinel.com Mike Thomas COMMENTARY
10:53 p.m. EST, January 31, 2011
We can't catch a break. If the wind isn't howling from hurricanes, the ground must be collapsing from sinkholes.
Hence, the latest insurance crisis in Florida, where homeowners, public adjusters and attorneys are clamoring for settlement checks for what often are little more than settlement cracks.
This has sent our already reeling insurance market into a new tailspin.
And you will pay for it.
State Farm wants to raise rates 28 percent, in large part because of sinkhole losses.
The state-owned Citizens Property Insurance takes in more than 200 sinkhole claims a month, paying out about four times as much as in claims as it takes in from premiums. We all know what happens when Citizens runs out of money and can't pay. We pay.
Florida is renowned for its insurance scams, and this one is a doozy.
It is centered in an area known as Sinkhole Alley in western Central Florida. Almost 70 percent of claims come from Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties.
10:53 p.m. EST, January 31, 2011
We can't catch a break. If the wind isn't howling from hurricanes, the ground must be collapsing from sinkholes.
Hence, the latest insurance crisis in Florida, where homeowners, public adjusters and attorneys are clamoring for settlement checks for what often are little more than settlement cracks.
This has sent our already reeling insurance market into a new tailspin.
And you will pay for it.
State Farm wants to raise rates 28 percent, in large part because of sinkhole losses.
The state-owned Citizens Property Insurance takes in more than 200 sinkhole claims a month, paying out about four times as much as in claims as it takes in from premiums. We all know what happens when Citizens runs out of money and can't pay. We pay.
Florida is renowned for its insurance scams, and this one is a doozy.
It is centered in an area known as Sinkhole Alley in western Central Florida. Almost 70 percent of claims come from Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties.
