FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Florida public adjuster: Gubernatorial candidates ignoring insurance concerns
Now just days away from the election, the licensed and certified public adjusters at Tutwiler and Associates say neither Alex Sink nor Rick Scott are addressing the significant insurance issues currently facing Floridians.
October 29, 2010 / TAMPA, Fla. /
A rules violation and the subsequent firing of an Alex Sink campaign staffer helped this week’s Florida gubernatorial debate grab headlines for all the wrong reasons, all while a key issue facing the Sunshine State gets ignored by those vying for the one position capable of addressing it, says Florida-based public adjuster Tutwiler and Associates. Choosing instead to focus on jobs and the economy, neither Rick Scott nor Sink discussed the property insurance issues facing Floridians, perhaps setting a bad precedent for whomever occupies the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee next year.
The licensed and certified public adjusters at Tutwiler and Associates, with offices throughout Florida and licenses in nine other states as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands, point to the reinsurance market as one of the most egregious problems facing Florida policyholders. A recent article from the ‘Sarasota Herald-Tribune’ goes into extensive detail about exactly how insurers in Florida are allegedly being price gouged by the reinsurance market and then pass that cost on to the individual policyholders.
According to the article, the average cost of reinsurance coverage in Florida climbed from $9.90 per $100 in exposure to $20, which is the highest in the nation. This increase poses a serious problem for Florida policyholders, but it’s been a cause for celebration for reinsurance companies; in fact, Aspen Reinsurance ended last year with a $378 million profit.
“The candidates are focusing primarily on jobs and the economy, which is only part of the problem facing Florida,” says Michael Platts, licensed and certified public adjuster at Tutwiler and Associates. “Jobs are absolutely important, but people need places to live and a lot of jobs are based on the housing and construction industries. Florida is likely not going to get back on track until the issues of insurance are stabilized.”
The “issues” Platts discusses haven’t materialized overnight. In fact, he says the insurance prices in Florida have increased at a runaway pace since 2004’s hurricane season where the state was hit by four named storms: Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. The storms marked the first time four hurricanes have hit one state in nearly 120 years, and the state’s insurance industry hasn’t been the same since. According to the ‘Herald-Tribune’ article, the average home premium has increased by nearly 80 percent, and residents near the coast saw increases of more than 300 percent. In fact, more than 300,000 Florida families lost their private coverage and were forced to find a new provider or, as a last resort, join the state-run insurer.
“It’s something former governor Charlie Crist promised to do, but he didn’t deliver on it,” says Platts. “The point is the insurance market in this state is broken. Whoever wins the governorship will have to work with the state legislature to address this issue that is key to the economic health of Florida.”
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Phone: (800) 321-4488
For more information, please visit www.PublicAdjuster.com
About Tutwiler and Associates: Tutwiler and Associates is a firm of public adjusters licensed in 10 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands specializing in commercial and residential property loss adjusting. With well in excess of $113 million in client success stories over a 27-year history, the Florida public adjusters work exclusively on behalf of policyholders to help them achieve the maximum settlement amounts they can fairly and honestly recover based on their loss and their policy provisions. Professional help from the adjusters at Tutwiler and Associates can help clients obtain a fair recovery under their policy. The Gulf Coast based public adjuster firm is committed to public service and strives to educate its clients about commercial and residential windstorm and hurricane losses, flood damage, fire, smoke and water damage, collapse, hidden decay and mold losses, sinkholes, loss of stock, and business interruption.