Don’t trust the peasants to elect their own insurance commissioner! At least that is what the insurance lobbyists, insurance company executives, and many of our own elected politicians seem to agree upon. Yet, insurance is one of the most significant expenses that impacts people’s lives outside of taxes.
Only twelve states have elected insurance commissioners. It is truly a form of regulation without elected representation.
Floridians elect representatives that determine taxes, property tax values, tax collectors, school board members, members of the soil and water conservation district, and a host of other elected officials, but not the person responsible for setting approved insurance rates and approved forms for all types of insurance. It is very odd that the industry allowed by law to exist in a state to “serve the public trust,” does not have an elected insurance commissioner.
A Florida Senate Joint Resolution would change this:
A joint resolution proposing amendments to Sections 3 and 4 of Article IV and the creation of a new section in Article XII of the State Constitution to establish the position of Commissioner of Insurance as a statewide elected officer and to provide for the commissioner’s inclusion on the Cabinet.
Whether or not the resolution passes this session, a dialogue should be taking place in all the other 38 states with no elected insurance commissioner. When we pay so much for insurance, there is no logical reason that we have this official position as one not elected by the people.
Thought For The Day
Elections remind us not only of the rights but the responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy.
—Robert Kennedy
