Today the Florida Insurance Commissioner told Allstate Insurance that it can no longer write any new policies in Florida. Not just homeowners policies (which they almost never did and usually charged an arm-and-a-leg for) but also life insurance and car insurance policies. These last are cash cows for the company and according to an Allstate spokesman I heard on the TV, this action "Finally got Allstate's attention".

Well, about time! These companies have been cherry picking the best policies and leaving the others without coverage. Apparently this time Allstate had asked for a 40%+ increase to cover past losses and to prepare for future losses. The state asked for documentation which Allstate failed to produce. The commission said that those few documents that were submitted had pages missing and he wondered what the company was attempting to hide. Makes you wonder doesn't it.

In any case, the commissioner had had enough of this runaround and read Allstate the riot act. Until they clean up their act, they will be doing no new business here in Florida. Existing policy holders are not supposed to be affected by this action, only those individuals who try to get new policies to insure their homes, cars, or lives.

My guess is that the other insurance companies here in Florida may see that the lion does indeed have some teeth. Unless the state backs down. What has finally happened, in my opinion, is that the voters are so fed up that the politicians no have to ignore all of the insurance lobbiests and listen to those people who can vote them out of office. They are our employees afterall. In the coming weeks 4 other major insurers are supposed to present materials demanded by the commission. Any bets on whether they comply? I am betting they take the hint and show up like "good little boys and girls" with their homework done.

Let's see how all of this plays out.

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