There's been some discussion recently about what insurance has done to
aviation. It could come to boating someday.

There was just a post on the owner's forum for my boat that someone is
having trouble getting insurance in the Gulf and Florida region for a
boat more than five years old. Has anyone heard anything similar?
Any chance this is the first high cirrus clouds of approaching bad
weather?

--

Roger Long

On Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:49:43 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

There was just a post on the owner's forum for my boat that someone is
having trouble getting insurance in the Gulf and Florida region for a
boat more than five years old. Has anyone heard anything similar?
Any chance this is the first high cirrus clouds of approaching bad
weather?

Getting insurance on older boats has been an issue for quite awhile
but now it is getting worse, a lot worse in places like Florida and
the Gulf Coast. It's not just boats either, houses also. Our home
insurance just doubled last week and we've had no claims. It just
happens to be a 1978 house however, built before the new FL codes went
into effect. We are on the water but 10 miles inland from the Gulf,
and about 1,000 ft in from the river.

Two years ago when we bought our 1981 GB trawler, insurance almost
broke the deal because it was so difficult to get, and that was before
the latest bunch of bad storms. We know people who have clauses in
their policy stating that the boat can not be below latitude 31
degrees during the hurricane season (roughly the South Carolina
border).

Wayne.B wrote:

Getting insurance on older boats has been an issue for quite awhile
but now it is getting worse, a lot worse in places like Florida and
the Gulf Coast. It's not just boats either, houses also. Our home
insurance just doubled last week and we've had no claims.

Why is it that no one ever suggests that it's time to bring parasitic
entities such as "insurance companies" to heel? _Long_past_time_ for
public insurance I think. Something that meets the needs of the insured
rather than the greed of the stockholders of the insurance companies.

"prodigal1" wrote in message
...
Wayne.B wrote:

Getting insurance on older boats has been an issue for quite awhile
but now it is getting worse, a lot worse in places like Florida and
the Gulf Coast. It's not just boats either, houses also. Our home
insurance just doubled last week and we've had no claims.

Why is it that no one ever suggests that it's time to bring parasitic
entities such as "insurance companies" to heel? _Long_past_time_ for
public insurance I think. Something that meets the needs of the insured
rather than the greed of the stockholders of the insurance companies.

Public insurance translated means government run insurance.............no
thanks.

Why are you so bitter about insurance company's? They are in the business
of making a profit for their shareholders....and adjust rates accordingly to
attain that goal. Don't like what one company charges....find another.
There are plenty to go around. Don't like the high rates you pay because
you live in hurricane alley.......then move.

We are all paying for the hurricane damage to your boats, cars and houses
with our insurance premiums and with our taxes through government subsidies
and other government spending. I for one am damn tired of doing so.

So pay up or move. Don't ask me to continue to subsidize you though.

On Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:17:04 -0400, JimH wrote:

Public insurance translated means government run insurance.............no
thanks.

I'm presuming you're American (osudad) and have never had any experience
with public insurance, so I have to ask myself on what your rejection of
the idea is based. Ideology? pfftt.... There are places in the world
where this works very well. People get the coverage they want, at rates
they find acceptable AND profits go toward public services like schools,
roads, hospitals... What's not to like?

Why are you so bitter about insurance company's?

I've had long experience with private insurance.....no thanks. Rates and
policies are legalised theft and extortion.

They are in the business
of making a profit for their shareholders....

My point exactly, their primary reasons for being are not to meet the
needs of those paying for their services, but rather to increase profit.
It just boggles my mind that so many cannot see the inherent
inappropriateness of this scenario.

and adjust rates accordingly
to attain that goal. Don't like what one company charges....find
another. There are plenty to go around.

And where I live you can't find a statistically significant difference
in premiums between any of the companies.

Don't like the high rates you
pay because you live in hurricane alley.......then move.

Don't live in hurricane alley...top end of tornado alley. I shouldn't
have to even contemplate moving because the company I pay large $$ to
insure against potential loss, inflates rates to show profits more in line
with stock trader's "earnings expectations" than to cover actual losses
and still show a profit. Big difference there.

We are all paying for the hurricane damage to your boats, cars and
houses with our insurance premiums and with our taxes through government
subsidies and other government spending. I for one am damn tired of
doing so.

So pay up or move. Don't ask me to continue to subsidize you though.

now I understand, you're allright, but anyone who suffers a loss can go
pound salt. Nice. I don't get it. You along with
tens of millions of other premium payers will willingly keep coughing up
more and more $$ for less and less coverage, all the while blaming the
increasing cost of premiums on claimants --which isn't at all the main
cause-- and yet never consider for a moment that there might be a better
insurance solution that meets the insurance customer's needs first.
Absolutely bizarre.

"prodigal1" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:17:04 -0400, JimH wrote:

Public insurance translated means government run insurance.............no
thanks.

I'm presuming you're American (osudad) and have never had any experience
with public insurance, so I have to ask myself on what your rejection of
the idea is based.

I take it your not an American...........otherwise you would know that
whatever our Government touches turns corrupt or bloated with
beauracracy........and most inefficient. The one exception is the Post
Office.


Ideology? pfftt.... There are places in the world
where this works very well.


As I am sure there are places in the workld where it does not.


People get the coverage they want, at rates
they find acceptable AND profits go toward public services like schools,
roads, hospitals... What's not to like?

That's funny!



Why are you so bitter about insurance company's?

I've had long experience with private insurance.....no thanks. Rates and
policies are legalised theft and extortion.

They are in the business
of making a profit for their shareholders....

My point exactly, their primary reasons for being are not to meet the
needs of those paying for their services, but rather to increase profit.

Yep. And controled by the States and most importantly the public by simply
going to another provider when rates are out of line.

And they must also meet the needs of the customers.....otherwise the
customer goes elsewhere.



It just boggles my mind that so many cannot see the inherent
inappropriateness of this scenario.

and adjust rates accordingly
to attain that goal. Don't like what one company charges....find
another. There are plenty to go around.

And where I live you can't find a statistically significant difference
in premiums between any of the companies.

Where do you live?



Don't like the high rates you
pay because you live in hurricane alley.......then move.

Don't live in hurricane alley...top end of tornado alley. I shouldn't
have to even contemplate moving because the company I pay large $$ to
insure against potential loss, inflates rates to show profits more in line
with stock trader's "earnings expectations" than to cover actual losses
and still show a profit. Big difference there.

We are all paying for the hurricane damage to your boats, cars and
houses with our insurance premiums and with our taxes through government
subsidies and other government spending. I for one am damn tired of
doing so.

So pay up or move. Don't ask me to continue to subsidize you though.

now I understand, you're allright, but anyone who suffers a loss can go
pound salt.

No, anyone who chooses to live in a hurricane prone area needs to pay the
price for doing so. It is all about choice.


Nice. I don't get it. You along with
tens of millions of other premium payers will willingly keep coughing up
more and more $$ for less and less coverage, all the while blaming the
increasing cost of premiums on claimants --which isn't at all the main
cause-- and yet never consider for a moment that there might be a better
insurance solution that meets the insurance customer's needs first.
Absolutely bizarre.


You know absolutely nothing about insurance. Your last statement proved it.

JimH wrote:


Public insurance translated means government run insurance.............no
thanks.

In British Columbia we have mandatory 3rd party automobile liability
insurance through the government insurance company ICBC.

You can also purchase comprehensive or collision insurance through
them, or a private company. Last time I got a quote, the private
company was MORE money than the government run one. And I've got a
very good driving insurance record.

Why not have an government insurance agency, with a larger pool of
insureds to help lower the premium? Excess profit in the government
agency means premiums get lowered the next year. A larger
organization like ICBC seems to be more efficient than 15 smaller
companies.

When I lived in the US, 1/3 of our doctor's office was taken up by
people dealing with all the health insurance companies. It seemed
very inefficient.

There seems to be a tendency in the US to really fear many forms of
government programs.

Evan Gatehouse

prodigal1 wrote:
Wayne.B wrote:

Getting insurance on older boats has been an issue for quite awhile
but now it is getting worse, a lot worse in places like Florida and
the Gulf Coast. It's not just boats either, houses also. Our home
insurance just doubled last week and we've had no claims.

Why is it that no one ever suggests that it's time to bring parasitic
entities such as "insurance companies" to heel? _Long_past_time_ for
public insurance I think. Something that meets the needs of the insured
rather than the greed of the stockholders of the insurance companies.

Then every policy could be like social security. Buster - government is
the PROBLEM. It's not the solution to anything.

Why is it that no one ever suggests that it's time to bring parasitic
entities such as "insurance companies" to heel?

Insurance companies aren't any more parasitic than any other
companies.

.... Something that meets the needs of the
insured rather than the greed of the stockholders of the insurance
companies.


If "the greed of the stockholders" is a problem, you can
calm yourself thinking about the lack of barriers to buying
insurance company stock yourself.

Frankly, most publicly held corporations hand over far more
money to their Board of Directors and particularly to the
few selected company officers than they do to their
stockholders.


Paul Cassel wrote:
Then every policy could be like social security.

Yep.
Sort of like the way not-for-profit insurance companies
operate now.

.. Buster - government is
the PROBLEM. It's not the solution to anything.

Ah, that's what I like. A nice calm well-reasoned and
non-ideological answer for everything!

Insurance of all types is legalized gambling. They don't
even get a house percentage... they do hire some very clever
mathematicians to try and tilt the odds slightly in their
favor, but if they tilt too much then they lose business to
somebody offering the same coverage at lower price.

Now, if somebody were to talk about reducing the obscurity &
complexity of the legal language in insurance contracts, and
maybe talk about outlawing certain kinds of advertising (or
just effectively enforcing current laws against fraud), NOW
we'd be getting somewhere.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

In article , says...


Wayne.B wrote:

Getting insurance on older boats has been an issue for quite awhile
but now it is getting worse, a lot worse in places like Florida and
the Gulf Coast. It's not just boats either, houses also. Our home
insurance just doubled last week and we've had no claims.

Why is it that no one ever suggests that it's time to bring parasitic
entities such as "insurance companies" to heel? _Long_past_time_ for
public insurance I think. Something that meets the needs of the insured
rather than the greed of the stockholders of the insurance companies.

I could not agree with you more. But it's not going to happen. The totally
parasitic health insurance industry made a $130 billion profit last year
while rejecting one third of all claims. Too much of that money is goiung
to bribe Congress isntead of reducing costs and improving health care.