Insurance Industry Rep Warns Florida Of Bleak Outlook On Storms, Coverage, Costs - SP Times

TALLAHASSEE - Canceled insurance policies and skyrocketing rates plaguing the state since the active hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 are a premonition of Florida's future under a warming climate, an insurance expert told the state Cabinet on Tuesday.

Rising sea levels, stronger hurricanes and the need for renewable energies were some of the topics a half-dozen experts touched on at the Cabinet's first of four climate change workshops. And despite a recent special session to address insurance woes, one predicted a gloomy future for insurance unless proactive measures are taken.

"What we have seen in recent years in terms of insurance losses are but a harbinger of things to come," said Tim Wagner, co-chairman of the Climate Change and Global Warming Task Force for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. "Insurance is priced based on statistics and probability. What climate change has done is create ambiguity and uncertainty in the pricing scenario."

While he favors a national catastrophe fund to back up coastal states in the event of a major disaster, Wagner said it would be a tough sell for many interior states that don't want to subsidize overbuilding on the coast. The true costs of insurance along the coastlines need to be transparent, not artificially lowered by government subsidies that encourage building in fragile areas, he said. The state can strengthen the insurance market by tightening development rules and requiring tougher building codes, he said.

EDIT

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/04/04/State/Experts_paint_grim_fu.shtml