Florida’s property insurance crisis is Rick Scott’s fault, Dems say. Is it?

Politicians across the political spectrum agree: The Florida property insurance market is catastrophically dysfunctional. Politicians can’t agree about how to fix it — or whose fault it is. Those two questions are coming up in a big way in this year’s contest for U. S. Senate.

Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is hoping to unseat Rick Scott, the Republican incumbent who oversaw state insurance policy for eight years as governor. Mucarsel-Powell says Florida’s insurance woes started under Scott. “Under Rick Scott’s self-serving agenda, Floridians across the state were crushed by skyrocketing insurance rates and an affordability crisis while he raked in millions and rigged the game in favor of his donors,” Mucarsel-Powell wrote in a statement. Scott’s team strongly disputed this characterization, arguing that Mucarsel-Powell didn’t criticize Scott for his property insurance policies when she ran for Congress in 2018. “Debbie isn’t credible or honest,” Scott spokesperson Will Hampson said in a statement.

“Property insurance costs are a major issue in our state and Floridians expect leaders who will solve problems, like Senator Scott has done, instead of screaming insane lies. ” Lawmakers and industry experts say Scott’s policies as governor did not help create a stable insurance market, but other factors outside his control have had a bigger effect on consumers. A June survey conducted by Florida Atlantic University found that the greatest share of surveyed voters blamed Gov. Ron DeSantis for the insurance crisis — not Scott. During his eight years in office that began in 2011, Scott tried to foster the growth of private insurance companies by moving Floridians off policies offered by the publicly-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

But instead of creating a healthy private marketplace, Scott’s moves encouraged undercapitalized companies to set up shop here. Of the 25 companies that state records say were approved to take on Citizens plans from 2013-18, more than half have either left Florida, cut back on business here or folded. “Rick Scott is a true believer in the private sector and private enterprise. And that’s great,” said Mike Fasano, the Republican Pasco County tax collector and former state representative who criticized some of Scott’s moves at the time. “But at some point, you have to come to the realization that in this case, it’s not going to work.

” Scott accomplished his goal as governor.