Socialism is not the solution

The politicians in Tallahassee, in great part, caused the tripling of our home insurance rates. When will they learn that socialism never works?

The state of Florida owns the largest homeowners' property insurance company in Florida. Isn't it ironic that the Republicans in Florida decided government ownership, socialism, is superior to free markets and capitalism?

I will never forget my conversation with my "conservative" state representative when he proudly told us he had voted in 2002 to socialize the property insurance market in Florida by creating state-owned Citizen insurance. I said, "Isn't that socialism?"

He told me that the greedy property insurance companies were not losing money – they were hiding their profits in offshore accounts in the Caribbean. I laughed and said, "You do know these are mostly publicly traded companies whose officers are trying to maximize profits and the value of their stock options." He laughed, too, because he knew his argument about hiding profits was less than accurate. He came back with this.

"David, the people of Florida are hurting because of rising property insurance premiums – and the state of Florida and I will be there to help them when they need it."

Thus, the great Republican-created socialistic property insurance company called Citizens was birthed in Florida. How has socialism worked for the property insurance marketplace in Florida?

If a private company owned Citizens Insurance, the state insurance regulator would kick it out of Florida for mismanagement. Our socialism experiment – Citizens – is not solvent. Citizens may not have the financial resources to pay out all claims after a major hurricane.

Governor Ron DeSantis agrees. "I think most people know Citizens has not been solvent. If you did have a major hurricane hit with many Citizens property holders, it would not have much to pay out."

There is a good chance Citizens will be unable to pay claims because of Tallahassee's financial mismanagement. A private company would then go bankrupt. When Citizens runs out of money, our Republicans have passed a state law allowing Citizens to levy fees on all other insurance policy owners. The state of Florida will assess you for their financial bungling of Citizens insurance despite you being on State Farm.

If Tallahassee continues to mismanage Citizens, an additional state law passed by Republicans allows Citizens to assess special charges on your auto policies such as Geico or Allstate. How can any conservative perpetuate this Ponzi scheme of an insurance company?

2022 Citizens had 50% more policies in place than in 2021. This is despite Republicans in Tallahassee telling us they don't believe in socialism.

Citizens is a leaky ship dragging the entire homeowners' property insurance market under water with it. This socialistic hot mess is easy to fix. Return to the free market and capitalism. On Jan. 1, 2025, quit writing any new Citizens policies. Then, put in a five-year sunset where Citizens will cease to exist.

Readers, what do you think? Share your thoughts.

David Dunn-Rankin is CEO of D-R Media, which owns the Highlands News-Sun and the Highlands Sun, as well as newspapers in Lake, Polk and Sumter counties. He can be reached at [email protected] .