PIP & Cat Fund Madness

Governor Charlie Crist admitted he had no interest in using his political clout to extend PIP insurance. PIP elapsed and that has created a crisis with the Catastrophe Fund. Money from liability insurance premiums is used to fund the CAT.

Personal injury protection insurance lines account for 7 percent or $2.5-billion of a total of $37-billion a year in assessable premium dollars in Florida. All auto insurance lines account for 40 percent of the state's assessment base or more than $14-billion of the $37-billion assessable base.

The CAT Fund was created to lower hurricane insurance premiums. Insurance companies responded by increasing premium rates. Now the state is on the hook for $37 billion during a budget crisis. The state is borrowing $5.2 billion and hoping the federal government will bail them out after a hurricane.

I like to hear conservatives explain how more tax cuts will solve the problem. The market didn't take care of itself. The state bent over backwards to take the brunt of financial burden. Insurance companies finally got what they wanted by ending PIP. Why then is everything a mess. I like economic illiterate social conservatives at Peer Review explain this to me.

The worst thing that happens to conservatism is when they get what they want.