No storms, but insurance rates headed higher

Today’s close of the 2012 tropicalweather season marks seven years without a hurricane hitting Florida, but don’t expect property-insurance rates to drop anytime soon.

Just consider the theme of an insuranceindustry conference in Orlando this week: “Staying the Course.” In Florida, property insurance has been on a course of higher rates and of efforts to kick people out of state-run Citizens Property Insurance.

In keeping with that theme, industry officials said Florida homeowners can expect rates to continue rising in the short term, though one prominent political leader warned them Thursday not to increase premiums by too much, or too fast.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater said insurers should not push for changes next year that would be too costly for homeowners, because many Floridians still struggle financially. He presented figures showing that, even though median household income is down 6.5 percent statewide since 2004, the average household is paying 67 more percent more for property insurance.

“We cannot expect that our urgency to the right market, as any one of us might see it, can outpace the ability of the consumerto adjust to the cost,” Atwater said.

Many in the insurance business insisted they still are not making enough money to cover their costs, despite the absence of a direct hurricane hit on Florida. They used terms like “rate inadequacy” and “rate supression” to describe the problem, and they pointed to a variety of reasons for the industry’s struggles during the annual Florida Chamber of Commerce Insurance Summit, which continues today.

Blame went to regulatory efforts by former Gov. Charlie Crist to hold down rates, to competition from Citizens, and to a big uptick recently in non-hurricane loses stemming from sinkholes, water damage and other issues.

“We haven’t yet gotten to a place where the premium dollars that are coming in are adequately covering the risk,” said Don Brown, an insurance agent and former state lawmaker who now works as a consultant for two of Florida’s largest property-insurance companies.

The chamber event is meant to help set the stage for state lawmakers’ annual debate over insurance issues. The Legislature convenes for its 60-day session in March.