Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Hurricanes, Insurance Companies, and State Legislators

Our insurance company of more than forty years just dropped us cold. They did it with a simple memo. In New York and in Florida, we have had all our insurances including umbrella insurance with them. The company is AllState.

They did this after a hurricane-free year when the legislators of the state started trying to find ways of reducing insurance costs; one of the suggested methods is putting mandates on the insurance companies. I don’t know whether to blame the legislators, the company, or the weather. I can’t fault the weather. Weather always acts up one way or another over each place on earth. State legislators will always act dumb. The companies will always want to make much more money than they hand out. This means all three have been acting according to what their nature intends them to act. They can’t be faulted.

That leaves us the residents of the state. Yes, I knew it all along; we are to blame. We are to blame for existing.

And our insurance will stop at exactly June1, the start of the hurricane season. Very convenient.

My husband says to forget the insurance companies; we can’t go around begging door to door. So few companies in Florida with so high premiums...

We have always paid our dues on time; we have been loyal to one company for a very long time; and we never asked for more than what they wanted to pay when there was damage. Hubby says we’ll leave it to luck and shoulder the costs ourselves.

I wonder what the insurance companies would do if everyone stopped dropping the idea of insurance. Just a thought.