Consumer Group Favors Expansion of Citizens Property Coverage
Tallahassee Democrat
April 28, 2006

Citizens Property Insurance Corp. should be allowed to include full homeowner coverage in hurricane-prone areas so it can increase its revenues and better deal with catastrophic losses, a consumer group's report says.

"I think we need a clean start" that includes "going for the whole homeowner's policy," says J. Robert Hunter, a former federal insurance administrator who's now director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, D.C.

Hunter and Joanne Doroshow of the Center for Justice & Democracy co-authored a the report, "At the Tipping Point: The homeowner insurance mess in Florida and how to fix it."

The report was released by Americans for Insurance Reform.

Hunter says Citizens, the state-sponsored insurer of last resort and Florida's second-largest insurer, should be allowed to add standard homeowners coverage to the more than 400,000 high-risk wind damage polices it now carries.

Private companies that refuse to provide wind damage coverage refer customers to Citizens, but are allowed to keep coverage for fire, theft and other areas traditionally covered in homeowner policies.

Hunter says if private insurers won't write wind coverage, they shouldn't be allowed to receive premiums for standard coverage while Citizens is allowed to collect premiums only on wind coverage.

Hunter's recommendation drew a endorsement from a Citizens official.

"What he (Hunter) is saying is what I agree is an appropriate thing to do," says Susanne Murphy, deputy executive director of Citizens.

For a copy of the complete article, contact AIR.