The New York Times has an article on the DD problem. I don't think people are believing that it is a problem of double deductibles, but a problem of high deductibles to begin with. Doubling them just makes the problem worse.
The reason the deductibles are "high" is because insurers were not allowed to price at the viable level given the current deductibles. Thus price regulation provided the incentive for the insurers to reduce the risks they bore. One way of doing this is to shift the risk back to the insured through the use of a deductible.
This chart from our book shows that the highest risk areas had high indicated expected losses (blue line--what loss models expect the typical losses for a standard house to be). While they had high indicated loss costs, the insurers knew they could not get premiums consistent with those prices, so they asked for a lower rate. This is indicated as filed rated (in red). The regulator's response was the (yellow) implemented rate. In 1996, the implemented rate was always less than the filed which, in turn, was always less than the indicated. What is interesting is that the percentage difference between the indicated and the implemented is highest in the more expensive to insure areas.
Insurers then changed their deductible policies and this had an affect on the difference between indicated and implemented rates. If we look at the year 2000 in the next chart, we see a more moderate difference between indicated and implemented loss costs. However,in the highest risk areas, the difference is still the greatest. Thus, the low risk homeowners in Florida subsidize the high risk. Price regulation shifted risk to low risk homeowners through the higher deductibles and may have lead to internal cross-subsidization between low and high risks in the state.
Update: I forgot to link to the article in the NY times. Also, just click on the graphics to see them in something approaching a readable size.
Update Update: I also forgot to mention that the state may be paying cash to those who had an unpaid insurance loss.
To offset the impact of the deductibles, J. Antonio Villamil, the chairman of Governor Bush's council of economic advisers, said Wednesday that he has recommended that the Legislature consider dipping into surplus state funds. One approach, he said, would be to give everyone with unpaid insurance losses a payment of $500 or so. Mr. Villamil said he was also recommending that state construction projects be accelerated.
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