by Eli Lehrer
August 27, 2008

The Aug. 22 editorial, “Soggy, slow-moving Fay offers lessons,” contains a lot of common sense, but your call for state regulations to ’’spread costs more evenly among all property owners’’ makes no sense at all.

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and Florida Citizens Property Insurance Corp. already spread the costs too widely. If a major storm hits the state, just about everyone (even those who don’t own homes) will pay enormous special taxes (called assessments) to pay off insurance claims.

Insurance serves its function best when risk factors, not politics, determine rates. The government can assist by doing things like improving building standards, helping people upgrade their homes and even providing direct assistance to people of modest means. But increased insurance regulation is the last thing Florida needs.