Insurance Affordability Is the Next Crisis And Florida Should Lead, Not React

A recent Wall Street Journal article made something very clear: the insurance industry is heading straight into an affordability reckoning. Premiums are climbing faster than wages. Coverage is shrinking. Deductibles are rising. And families are being told to accept it because insurers say they have no other choice.

Floridians know better.

For years, working families have been squeezed by skyrocketing homeowners and auto insurance costs. Many are paying thousands more each year for less coverage, longer claims delays, and more exclusions. At the same time, large national carriers are reporting strong profits and rewarding executives, while shifting risk and cost onto consumers.

That disconnect is no longer flying.

Across the country, lawmakers are starting to question why insurance has become unaffordable while the system itself seems untouchable. Some states are even discussing profit caps or new regulatory authority. That conversation is happening because people are fed up and rightly so.

But Florida should not wait for a crisis response. We need structural reform.

The Real Problem Is Not Risk. It Is Oversight.

Insurers will argue that rising rates are driven by inflation, storms, reinsurance costs, and construction prices. Those factors are real. What is also real is this:

Florida has allowed an insurance system to operate with minimal transparency, weak accountability, and fragmented oversight.

Rates are approved based on assumptions most consumers never see. Claims handling is hidden behind internal guidelines. Market exits happen with little warning and no meaningful consumer protection. And when carriers get it wrong, penalties are often treated as a cost of doing business.

That is not a free market. That is a protected market.

Affordability Is a Consumer Protection Issue

Insurance is not optional in modern life. You cannot own a home, drive a car, or run a business without it. When something is mandatory, affordability becomes a public trust issue.

As Chief Financial Officer, my responsibility would not be to protect carriers or chase headlines. It would be to protect Floridians by enforcing real standards.

That means transparency in rate filings so the public and regulators can see where the money is going. That means accountability when claims are delayed, underpaid, or wrongfully denied. That means integrity in regulation, not revolving doors between regulators and industry lobbyists.

Florida Needs Leadership, Not Political Theater

Other states are reacting to public outrage with surface level fixes. Florida has the opportunity to lead with smart reform that stabilizes the market without sacrificing consumers.

We can restore confidence by demanding honesty in pricing. We can protect homeowners without driving responsible carriers away. We can end the idea that affordability and solvency are mutually exclusive.

The uproar over insurance affordability is not coming. It is already here.

The question is whether Florida will continue to react after the damage is done, or whether we will finally build a system that works for the people who pay into it every single month.

I am running for Chief Financial Officer to bring transparency where there is secrecy, accountability where there has been silence, and integrity where Floridians deserve better.

Insurance should protect families, not punish them.