LETTER: There are answers to insurance problem

Editor:

The Daily Sun recently ran two editorials on the crisis in the Florida insurance market: "Suit Against Flood Insurance Makes Sense" and "Home Insurance Crisis Getting No Better." Unfortunately, both missed the mark.

In the first case, another lawsuit is not going solve the insurance crisis and in the second case, the editorial offers no solutions on how to alleviate the problem.

The current model of how insurance is underwritten is not sustainable. Here are four possible solutions to help restore the insurance market to a healthy state:

First, raise deductibles. There is a cost to keeping deductibles low. Transferring "less risk" to insurance companies by accepting higher deductibles will lower insurance premiums.

Second, banks should be a part of the solution. Banks have extensive experience in writing lines of credit. They could offer a line of credit that would only be used in the event of a natural catastrophe. This would help lessen the "pain" of higher deductibles.

Third, underwriting standards have to be modified. It may not be practicable to insure multi-million-dollar homes on a coastline. Or, a limit may have to be set on the amount the insurance company is willingly to provide for high value homes.

Third, building codes should be updated to make all future structures less susceptible to hurricane damage.

Fourth, prosecutors must aggressively pursue insurance fraud claims.

Much has been written about the insurance crisis but too little has been written on how to realistically solve the problem.

Paul Maloney

North Port