As we stand at the beginning of the next hurricane season, here's one prediction I'm willing to make: When it comes, the next hurricane will bring more than high winds and plenty of claims.
For the insurance industry, the lasting legacy of former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist isn't just the anti-insurer legislation passed during his tenure. Crist's real legacy is the environment he created that made it easy and politically rewarding to depict insurance companies as enemies of the people.
Even now, during a time of no major weather catastrophes in Florida, a backlash has not-so-quietly been building. During deliberations on no-fault auto insurance in the 2012 Florida Legislative Session, more than one legislator made reference to problems in the property-insurance market as reasons not to trust insurers. One prominent senator even described insurance carriers as having “no soul.”
These condemnations usually come with a healthy dose of indignation that holds insurers responsible for abandoning “the people” in the first place. Never do these declarations recognize the complexity of the problem or the willingness of insurers to be part of the solution.
Mark my words, when the next major hurricane comes, the wind will not have even stopped blowing before the blame starts flowing—and carriers are at the bottom of the hill.
The question is not how the insurance industry will respond, but how your company will differentiate itself and preserve the credibility of your brand among policyholders, agents, regulators and legislators.
During those years that I helped lead the response to Crist's assault on the insurance industry, I also had the opportunity to visit many of those insurers in the crosshairs. The people I met were proud of their companies' performance during those difficult times. Often, they directed me to bulletin boards where numerous heartfelt letters of thanks from policyholders were displayed.
But those good stories never seemed to make it off the bulletin boards. Some insurers were uncomfortable telling their own story. Some didn't know how.
As the next hurricane season looms, insurers should prepare themselves for the public and political repercussions sure to follow a storm making landfall.
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