LETTER: We need Citizens Insurance to prosper

Editor:

In 2002, the Legislature created Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. This was after a hurricane that caused some insurance companies to fail and caused others to refuse policies considered high risk. Insurance companies business is to make a profit. Small business capitalism is competitive while large business capitalism tends to be non-competitive and price fixing.

For 2023, Citizens had 1.7 million policy holders and collected $5.1 billion in premiums. Citizens operating cost was 13.5% of premiums which is substantially lower than private companies and of course no profits.

Whether climate change is man induced, a natural cycle or a combination of both the planet is warming. One Cat-5 hurricane does catastrophic damage. If environmentalist are serious organize a boycott of Chinese goods till they install scrubbers on their coal power plants.

As the oceans are slowly rising and before we have to move to Kansas let us have affordable hassle-free insurance provided by Citizens Insurance. While we're at it the best inflation control is to limit supermarkets and pharmaceutical companies to a 10% profit.

Where a hurricane makes landfall the first responder is the national flood insurer FEMA. FEMA bears the brunt of water damage and private insurance companies fail because of incompetent, short sighted, greedy management. The 2% hurricane deductible is a gift to insurance companies.

Private insurance companies serve themselves and supposedly their shareholders. Citizens Insurance serves we the people in a fair, honest, and just way.

Larry Bierma

Punta Gorda