Citizens isn't working

If it wasn't clear before last week that Hurricane Summer affected almost everyone in Florida, it is now.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the public-private, state-run insurer of last resort, announced that all Floridians who have homeowner policies will pay to bail out the carrier -- even those who aren't Citizens policyholders. Like a hurricane nearing the coast, arrival of this news was inevitable. Intensity was the only question.

The number will be $68 for every $1,000 in premiums. That will be on top of the regular premium. The money will fill a $516 million hole in Citizens' books after the company paid out claims from 2004. Because so many private insurers have dumped policies, only State Farm has more policies than Citizens.

The Legislature has done little in the past year to help homeowners with their insurance. The Legislature refused to allocate any of the roughly $2 billion in unexpected sales-tax revenue to the Citizens bailout. The Legislature would not let Citizens offer lower rates in areas private insurers have abandoned. Naturally, the insurance industry that won't write policies doesn't want the consumers it abandoned to get the slightest break.

Ideally, Citizens wouldn't exist. It is the revised version of a high-risk pool that went into effect after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The more policies it has, the more the private market has failed. Since everyone in Florida who has insurance now understands that, maybe the thought finally will catch on in the Legislature.