To the editor:

Our home insurance renewal notice arrived in the email recently. The premium increased 57% from 2021 to 2022. Of course I was ecstatic. We are not required to have flood insurance but from what I have heard those premiums are also increasing for those required to have it.

I always expect insurance to increase yearly in some sane, graduated increment, but not 57%. Florida, we have a problem! It’s the same problem with Florida automobile insurance. The price increases are not sustainable for many people.

The problem is that the insurance companies, their actuaries and our governor have failed in their jobs and they are not being held accountable to the public. We are being steamrolled by the insurance industry and our governor. I’m flat-out tired of it. Are you?

According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics.gov website: “Most actuarial work is done with computers. Actuaries use database software to compile information. They use advanced statistics and modeling software to forecast the probability of an event occurring, the potential costs of the event if it does occur, and whether the insurance company has enough money to pay future claims.”

What have the insurance companies, their actuaries and our governors been doing for the past 10 years? The actuaries were supposed to be “forecasting” the probability of events. So what happened in 2021? Some actuary woke up and ran a last minute Monte-Carlo analysis and discovered, in a panic, that they had been doing nothing for the last 10 years and now they have to dramatically raise premiums to cover their mistakes?

This is a complicated mess for the Florida homeowner. This is Florida Big-Government at its worst. Somebody’s making a financial killing and it’s killing the homeowner.

Now it’s time for Ron DeSantis to practice his espoused Republican distaste for Big- Government financial debacles and put an end to the out-of-control inflated home insurance rates.

Don’t hold your breath waiting.

Paul Kiefner

Saint Augustine, formerly Cape Coral