Crist and the Insurance Wedge

I wonder if there will be a future riff between Charlie Crist and Republicans over freezing Citizens Property Insurance rates. What's interesting is Crist's tough talk against the insurance industry.

Democrats praised Crist more rabidly than Republicans, crediting him for emasculating the insurance industry's claims that higher rates were needed to create a more competitive market.

Politically, Crist seems to be playing this smart. I know that Republicans love that insurance lobby money. If they push too hard to back the insurance industry there could be a backlash with voters.

Personally, I'm wondering how Citizens is going to be funded. Remember 2005? Poe Financial Group filed Chapter 11.

Policyholders statewide already are on the hook to help pay for deficits from the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and hundreds of millions of dollars left unpaid in claims by Tampa's bankrupt Poe Financial Group. Now new figures suggest the same policyholders may face new bills to cover additional unpaid claims by Poe.

The Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, or FIGA, the group that covers unpaid claims and repays unused premiums after insurance companies become insolvent, has paid slightly more than $445-million to nearly 30,000 former policyholders of Tampa's bankrupt Poe Financial Group as of Sept. 30.

Citizens is like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors singing, "Feed me." It gets bigger and scarier for Florida. No one has figured out what to do with it. Let's not forget the corruption scandal.