LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Tuesday is the Florida primary and the governor's race has a lot on the line. One hot button issue on the minds of voters: homeowner's insurance and the crisis our state is facing.
People are being dropped by insurance companies and some are seeing skyrocketing rates. Both Nikki Fried and Charlie Crist have their own visions on how they want to handle the crisis.
"We need to make sure that we have a competitive market," Fried told Fox 4 at a campaign stop in Fort Myers over the weekend. "That means we need to get rid of the fraud that's happening on the insurance side."
We requested an interview with Charlie Crist, but his staff said he wasn't available. They pointed us to a press conference on July 26 where the candidate addressed the insurance crisis.
"We’ll tell them [companies] they have to lower the rates if they want to stay in the state. We’ll pass a law that says that," Crist said.
Both have plans laid out on their campaign websites. Nikki Fried wants to create a task force to come up with ideas to lower rates, look at fraud prevention and lawsuits. She also wants to take another look at the state's hurricane catastrophe fund.
"But we also have some really in the weeds kinda stuff that needs to be done dealing with the reinsurance marketplace, utilizing what’s called the CAT fund," Fried said.
Crist wants to make the statewide insurance program, Citizens, more affordable. The program is for people that can't find insurance through a private company.
"We should raise the cap for what Citizens will cover and reflect out-of-control housing costs under DeSantis," Crist said.
Both candidates say if they're elected, they plan to ask bigger companies to sell other insurance products, such as car insurance, in order for people to bundle and save money.
"I've got a solution and more importantly, I want to make sure people have property insurance," Fried said.
"As your candidate for governor, mine is the only campaign to release a seven-point plan to lower rates and protect you, the people of Florida," Crist said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who Fried or Crist will face off in November, signed a law back in May to tackle the crisis.
